


Prince of Disney Castle

by leftenant



Series: Days at Disney Castle [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Also Past Cloud/Sephiroth, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And Then Completely Ignores Others, Brief Riku/Sora/Kairi Love Triangle, But Soriku is Endgame, F/M, Friendship, Incorporates Some Elements from All the Games Including KH3, M/M, Oblivious Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Pining Kairi (Kingdom Hearts), Pining Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Playing Fast & Loose With Canon, Prince Riku AU, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2019-11-14 03:51:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 113,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18044930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leftenant/pseuds/leftenant
Summary: When a dangerous enemy threatens to plunge Disney Castle into darkness, Prince Riku must marry a Princess of Heart to save it. That would be a lot easier if not for the hopeless crush he's had on his childhood friend Sora for practically the past two decades.A crush that maybe isn't so hopeless after all.





	1. Chaos

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my massive canon-adjacent AU! It's set in a 'verse where Riku was adopted by Mickey and Minnie after Destiny Islands fell to darkness (this time through no fault of his own), so I really mean that tag about playing fast and loose with canon. I hope you enjoy the ride! :)
> 
> I actually started writing this long before Kingdom Hearts III came out, but since it wasn't done by the time I played that, some elements/information/missed opportunities/etc from the game are alluded to or worked into this fic. Just warning for anyone still playing! 
> 
> Explicit rating is for later chapters.

Riku watched the sky. Fat clouds drifted leisurely through the air, crescents of sun glowing around them. It was nothing but splashes of crystal blue and cotton white as far as his eye could see, a view unchanged since that morning. And noon. And five minutes ago, when he’d last checked.

“Your Highness,” said his companion, tapping him on the shoulder with Brightcrest. The cerulean curves of the keyblade made it look forged from water and skylight. “I promise you that the lesson will pass much faster if you _pay attention_.”

“Sorry, Master Aqua.” Riku summoned Soul Eater to his hand. “I was just—”

“It won’t be much longer now,” Aqua said, her eyes warm with understanding. “Let’s run through the forms one more time, and then you can be dismissed.”

Riku nodded and fell into battle stance.

Usually, keyblade training was his favorite lesson of any given day, but Master Aqua was right. He _was_ distracted. Even as she showed him another defensive form, his eyes drifted back to the window and the blue sky beyond. He had to fix his attention to the lesson several times and, even then, she only got him to focus when she tried to bludgeon him enough with Brightcrest to break his form.

Master Aqua smiled when he held his posture against a barrage of Teleport Spikes. “Very good, Riku. You’ve been practicing.”

He fidgeted under the praise, but returned the smile. Aqua was the youngest Keyblade Master in several decades; even years into his training, receiving a compliment from her was a heady achievement.

He opened his mouth to thank her and gasped instead when a gummi ship broke the line of clouds.

“Master—”

“Go,” Aqua said around a laugh. She lowered her keyblade and reached out to tap his temple. “As far as I’m concerned, you’ve been gone up here this whole time anyway.”

Riku gave her a rueful smile, dismissed his keyblade, bowed deeply at the waist, and then ran.

The gym where they sparred was located on the top level of a tower on the opposite side of the castle from the Hangar. First, he had to descend the stone stairs to the South Hall, racing past the enchanted brooms carrying buckets of water toward the guest bedrooms. Next he ran into the library, nearly slamming into Umiko and only managing to save her stack of books from falling with a quick Magnet spell. The library fed into the West Hall, followed by a sprint down three more winding sets of stone stairs, lit by pink lamps shaped like a mouse’s head. There was another hallway lined with those same lamps, a crown-shaped door, and finally, _finally_ he emerged in the Gummi Hangar.

Riku took a moment to catch his breath. He had the time, now that he was here. The gummi ship hadn’t yet finished landing.

But before his breathing had fully evened out, Riku heard a pair of slapping footsteps. It took everything in him not to sigh at what he knew was coming. Or, rather, who.

Kairi appeared in the doorway, her entire face lit up. “Sora’s back!”

“Yes,” Riku said with an answering smile. “You saw him fly in?”

“I was working on my Stopra with Donald in the yard.” She clapped her hands together. “It feels like forever since we’ve all been here together!”

It had, in fact, been two months and six days since Sora had left on a mission with the Black Coats. Riku could probably have timed it down to the second if he’d let himself. Disney Castle seemed to hold its breath when Sora was gone, like he’d taken the real Cornerstone of Light with him. Worse still, Riku’s conversations with Kairi stretched thin as they both tried to avoid tripping over the increasingly obvious fact that they mostly had Sora in common. Which, Riku knew, was partially his fault. He’d never been good with people, and Kairi tried hard enough for the both of them to keep their friendship alive.

It was just… hard. When he _knew_.

“Are you sweating?” she asked, looking up at him. After his last growth spurt, she and Sora both barely came up to his shoulder. “Did you run here?”

“I had keyblade training,” Riku evaded. “I hope Sora’s not too tired to spar.”

Kairi put her hands on her hips. “ _Riku_. You should at least let him take a nap before you two—”

The rest of her sentence was drowned out by the gummi ship finally ascending through the hatch. Chip and Dale jumped out of nowhere, racing along the pipes toward the port where Sora would jerkily land the ship to be picked up by the giant gloved hands that would hold it in place for repairs. Riku eyed the nooks and crannies of the Hangar, trying to figure out where the chipmunks could have hidden themselves that he wouldn’t have noticed them until now. He wasn’t worried about them outing him as having burst in here like someone had set fire to his bed, though. If it wasn’t working on a ship or messing with Donald, Chip and Dale didn’t really care about it. They'd even gotten Sora a wrench instead of a cake for his twentieth birthday.

Sora slammed the gummi ship onto the port with a worrying _screech_. Riku and Kairi exchanged glances.

“Boy!” roared a voice behind them. “What’re you doin’ to my ship?”

Riku stepped aside to allow the Royal Technician, Cid Highwind, to storm into the Hangar. Even the toothpick between Cid's lips seemed to be twitching with anger as he hurried down the stairs toward the ship. The gummi's stairs were lowering, allowing voices to spill into the Hangar, but Cid only had eyes for the blocks. The curses he was spitting out made Riku genuinely hope that Sora had brought back some new parts for him, or Cid might tear Sora apart and use his _bones_ to patch the gummi ship.

At least Cid didn’t try to throw Riku out of here anymore.

Kairi shot past Riku and down the stairs, already calling Sora’s name. Her joy seemed to bounce off the walls and echo through the Hangar, even over the low hum of the ship. Riku swallowed a shot of jealousy clawing at his heart like shards of cut glass and followed at a more sedate pace.

He should be used to this by now.

Sora was the first one down the stairs of ship, his arms folded behind his head. Two months and six days, and the sight of him still took Riku’s breath away. His hair had gotten longer, messier, spikier, and no shade of blue could ever match the exact cerulean tint of Sora’s eyes. A grin lit up his face as he replied to something one of the Black Coats was saying and then his expression melted into one of surprise when he caught sight of Kairi.

Seconds before she slammed into him, throwing her arms around his neck.

Sora’s arms dropped from his head at once, and the smallest, pettiest part of Riku took comfort in the fact that Sora didn’t immediately hug her back. Even if it was due to shock, it was _something_. Honestly, Riku had been hoping for at least a few minutes alone with Sora before he had to see them like this: Kairi’s face pressed against the side of Sora’s neck, her red hair like a crown of rubies, her pale skin perfectly contrasted against Sora’s tan.

They looked so _good_ together.

Riku’s chest hurt.

He had to remind himself to keep breathing. Just keep breathing. Even – _especially_ – when Sora’s hands settled on the small of Kairi’s back as he returned the hug, a soft smile on his face. Riku was the Prince of Disney Castle, for fuck’s sake, and he had more to worry about than his best friends falling in love. He shouldn’t even _be_ worried about that. He should want them to be happy.

He _should_.

Kairi pulled back just enough to look at Sora, but Riku was still too far away to hear what they might be talking about. Then Sora’s eyes lifted and met his and… and Riku didn’t think it was too optimistic of him to think that Sora’s face lit up at the sight of him, too. Just a little. Right?

Sora stepped away from Kairi and swept into a low bow, looking up at Riku with a shit-eating grin. “ _Your Highness_.”

“Oh, shut up,” said Riku with a chuckle. “Who let you back in here?”

Sora straightened, the grin widening. “You mean you’re not down here because you _miiiiisssed_ me?”

“I think Kairi missed you enough for both of us.” She went pink, but luckily Sora was too busy pouting to notice. Whoops. Riku hurried onward before Sora _did_ notice. “I just came to see if you wanted to lose a fight.”

He had already been smiling, but, after that, Sora noticeably perked up even more. So noticeably that Riku felt foolish for imagining that Sora had glowed anywhere near this much just from looking at _him_.

“Unless the Fairy Godmother’s around to grant wishes,” Sora smirked. “You’re going to be eating those words.”

Kairi laughed, and it was equal parts amused and exasperated. “ _Sora_ , you haven’t even been back for five minutes and you guys are already trying to outdo each other?”

“Idiots will be idiots,” said a new voice. Riku dragged his eyes off Sora long enough to see the captain of the Black Coats, Cloud Strife, standing on the gummi ship stairs. Behind him, Riku could see a few others he recognized: Sephiroth and Yuffie, Tifa and Zack, and Aerith and Ventus. Cloud folded his arms, the sleeves of his black coat riding up to bare his wrists. “Speaking of idiocy, mind taking this little lovefest elsewhere? You’re blocking our way off the ship.”

Sora stuck his tongue out at the captain, but ushered Riku and Kairi to the side so the Black Coats could exit the gummi. Riku eyed Cloud as he passed. He looked exhausted, but he wasn’t visibly injured – not always a guarantee when he went out in the field. Leon would be happy, at least, though it was a toss-up on whether or not he would stop working long enough to even see Cloud.

Kairi wrapped her arms around one of Sora’s. “Before you guys start swinging your keyblades around, can we please, please, _please_ just eat together? Maybe watch the sunset? After that, I’ll fight the winner!”

Sora glanced at Riku, who simply raised his eyebrows. Master Aqua trained all three of them separately, but something about Kairi’s keyblade, Destiny’s Embrace, had qualified her for extra, private lessons with King Mickey’s old teacher Master Yen Sid. Neither of them had even seen her wield it yet, and, from the look on Sora’s face, neither of them could wait to see it in action.

“All right, all right,” Sora said, smiling down at Kairi. Riku folded his arms to hide the fact that his fingers were practically trembling with longing. Then Sora beamed at _him_ , and Riku’s whole body trembled for an entirely different reason. “Let’s go watch the sunset.”

He was so screwed.

“Race you,” he said, proud of his voice for not shaking.

Sora took the stairs two at a time to reach him. “You’re on!”

  
  


In the two months that Cloud had been away leading the mission to Traverse Town, the Disney Castle hadn’t changed much.

Enchanted brooms continued their constant parade through the halls. Red and gold banners emblazoned with black mouse silhouettes lined the walls. Gilded frames with portraits of the royal family — King Mickey, Queen Minnie, and their adopted son Prince Riku — broke up the marble and red monotony. Captains Goofy and Terra jogged by with a line of Royal Guards, all of them welcoming him back as they passed.

It wasn’t the home that he’d known, but Disney Castle _was_ his home now. And his entire body ached to see the man who had helped to make it so.

“Cloud, wait.”

The voice belonged to the last person he wanted to talk to right now, the person he had neither the desire nor the _energy_ to argue with. But before Cloud could do the opposite of what Sephiroth was asking, like maybe break into a run, a gloved hand caught his wrist to stop him midway up the stairs.

He turned to face his ex-boyfriend with a scowl. “Let go of me.”

“You know there’s no point in going up there,” Sephiroth said mildly. He did, at least, let Cloud go, though that was a small comfort when he kept _talking_. “Come decompress with the strike team for a while. We had a mission as successful as it could be under the circumstances, and you’re better off celebrating that with people who actually care about you than waiting outside of that office like a stray dog.”

Cloud tensed. He knew that Sephiroth was right, and yet defensiveness wrapped around him like armor anyway. It wasn’t as if Sephiroth had only his best interests at heart, he reminded himself. And it wasn’t as if it was even Sephiroth’s place to be saying this to him at all.

“What I do with my time is none of your business,” Cloud snapped. “You’re dismissed.”

“If you would just liste—”

“ _Dismissed_.”

Sephiroth’s lips narrowed to a thin line. “Fine. But you’re a fool.”

Cloud could have had him punished for insubordination, but, as Sephiroth turned and swept down the stairs in a waterfall of silver hair and self-righteousness, he was only relieved to finally be left alone. Working with his ex was a complicated kind of torture, one Cloud could brood about _after_ he saw Leon.

The spymaster’s office door was firmly closed when he made it there, so he didn’t try and approach. A Reflect spell on the door kept anyone who wasn’t inside when it was closed from getting too close, and Cloud had been flung back toward the opposite wall more than once. He slid down that same wall now, his legs stretched out in front of him, and wondered how long he’d be waiting here “like a stray dog” _this_ time.

To his surprise, the door opened after only a few minutes, and Axel stepped out into the hallway.

“Understood, boss,” he said over his shoulder before his dancing green eyes caught sight of Cloud and he smirked. “Well, well, well. Look what the gummi dragged in.”

“Shocked to see you in the light of day, Axel,” Cloud said as he got to his feet, smirking right back. For many, Axel was an acquired taste, but something about the twenty-two year old redhead's cool confidence and sardonic sense of humor had charmed Cloud from the first time they’d met. Besides, he was a good listener, and sometimes Cloud needed _someone_ to be. “Don’t you have a rock to crawl under with the rest of your friends?”

“I’m not the one aiming to be under something today, now am I?” Axel raised his eyebrows pointedly. “Good luck with that.”

Cloud sighed as Axel clapped him on the shoulder on his way past. “Yeah, thanks.”

“Cloud? Is that you?”

The smile that rose onto his face was involuntary. He was in the office before he’d even decided to take a step. “It’s me.”

Squall Leonhart stood halfway between his paper-laden desk and the door, his face open with surprise, his eyes smiling before his mouth did. And he looked _good_ – exhausted but good. His brown hair was less artfully tousled as it was fitfully screaming, but his blue eyes looked gray under the overhead light and his broad shoulders filled out his cropped black leather jacket like a dream.

“You’re back,” Leon said, dragging Cloud further into the room so he could slam the door shut behind him. For several glorious minutes, Cloud knew nothing but the feel of Leon’s dry lips on his, Leon’s warm, hard body pressing against his, the scent and feel of Leon surrounding him like the air he needed to breathe. Not that he was doing very much of that when Leon finally pulled away. “Fuck, I missed you.”

“I missed you, too,” Cloud managed. “Please tell me Axel was your last appointment for the day.”

He knew it was coming before it happened and yet disappointment still needled him as Leon pulled away with a sigh. “I wish. But, as it is, I’m going to have to rearrange several things just for you to make _your_ report.”

Cloud gave himself enough time to be able to speak without his voice frosting over. “Babe, I’ve been gone for _two months_.”

“I know, I know,” Leon ran a hand through his hair, looking stressed out. “Believe me, I know. I _want_ to take a break, but you know what’s at stake these days. And now’s such a bad time—”

It was _always_ a bad time.

Sephiroth’s words bounced around in his head, mocking him, feeding his resentment. Which was exactly what Sephiroth would want – and what Cloud refused to give him. He closed his eyes, took a breath, reopened them. “Right. I’ll give my report and then leave you to it, then.”

Leon dropped back in his chair, moving stacks of paper around to avoid meeting Cloud’s gaze. Cloud let him, acceptance trickling past the disappointment and helping him regain his cool. He’d known that this was going to happen. There was no point in getting upset over things staying exactly the way they’d always been.

After all, the castle wasn’t the only thing that never changed.

“Well, first of all, you were right,” Cloud said, sinking down in the single guest chair across from Leon. “There _has_ been an influx of new people arriving in Traverse Town after Neverland sank into darkness. But we’ve got bigger problems. Mistress of all Evil-level problems.”

At this, Leon finally met his gaze again. “Maleficent was there?”

“Worse. The heartless seemed to be… _listening_ to her.”

Cloud watched the full implications of that play across Leon’s stupidly beautiful face. Longing lit his blood, and he just let it simmer until it cooled.

“Shit,” Leon said at last. “Tell me everything.”

By the time that Cloud finished giving his report, he felt like a dying battery with just enough energy to give Leon a kiss goodbye. He shuffled to the room that they shared, wanting nothing more than a long bath and an even longer rest.

But when he reached the room, there was a steaming mug of hot cocoa sitting on the table by his side of the bed. A folded note accompanied it, though Cloud didn’t need to read it to know who had done this. He picked up the note and pointed at a candle to cast a Fira. The smart thing to do would be to burn it unopened.

Too bad Cloud had never been that smart.

His eyes scanned the elegant print. _“I cast a Fire spell on the cocoa to keep it warm, but I’m sure I needn’t have bothered_ ,” the note read, and Cloud could hear Sephiroth’s pointed tone saying the words in his head. _“Sleep well, captain.”_

The paper went in the fire, the cocoa went in the garbage, and Cloud went into the bed, a blanket pulled tight over his spiky hair. And if his body curled instinctively toward Leon’s cold side of the bed, that was no one’s business but his own.

  
  


Sora was sandwiched between the two of them like he was the one who was the member of royalty, but, as usual, his attention was on Riku. “Just admit that I won!”

“No,” Riku drawled. “Because you cheated.”

“I didn’t cheat! You _tripped_!”

“I tripped over your giant shoes.”

Sora’s face screwed up into a familiar pout, one that made him look so cute that Kairi wanted to grab his arm again so she could have a better view of it. She kept her hands curled up in her pockets instead, smiling as she watched her friends bicker over the results of the race that had left her several paces behind despite her best efforts to keep up. Beyond Sora, Riku's eyes were sparkling as he teased Sora, and there was an ease in the way he carried himself that had been missing while Sora had been gone.

She tried not to let it bother her.

“Kairi,” Sora whirled around to face her, his eyebrows drawn together. “Who do _you_ think won?”

“Well…” she drew out the word, then the pause, delighting in the feeling of his eyes on her, his genuine interest in her opinion. “Technically, he _did_ trip over you, Sora, so…”

“ _Thank_ you.”

“Kairi!”

Sora sounded scandalized by her perceived betrayal and Riku was smiling at her – a real smile! – over his head like they were sharing a private joke. For a moment, it felt like things were back to how they’d used to be before the day she’d seen her own love for Sora reflected in Riku’s eyes. She giggled as Sora began grumbling about how she always took Riku’s side and how Riku never just let him _enjoy_ things and how Donald and Goofy would never treat him like this. Riku joined in her laugher, reaching down to ruffle Sora’s spikes in that way he liked to pretend was mocking and not simply affectionate. And everything was normal. _Fun_.

But, as usual, their bubble of happiness was quick to burst.

“Your Highness.” Master Terra, co-captain of the Royal Guard, approached them from the other end of the hallway, dipping in a bow once he stopped in front of Riku. Riku bowed back, though his was more of a shallow dip of his head. “Aqua explained the situation to me, but I really must insist that we get started with today’s lesson.”

Riku was frowning as though he wanted to argue, but then his gaze lifted. Behind Terra, standing at the end of the hall, was Ventus. Kairi could see the moment that Riku realized the same thing that she did: Terra had plans with Ventus the same as they did with Sora, and it would be cruel to make him delay them. Especially considering how vocal he and Aqua had been about refusing to let Ventus join the Black Coats at all.

“Yes, of course,” Riku replied at last, and it was his prince voice rather than his normal voice that came out. “After you.”

And then he was gone without so much as a goodbye.

“Typical Riku,” Sora scoffed. “And he didn’t even admit that I won.”

Kairi gave him a smile, the shot of pleasure from being left alone with Sora being chased by shame over feeling that way at all. She wasn’t that kind of person – or, rather, she didn’t want to be that kind of person. But her friendship with Riku had gotten so complicated since puberty had irrevocably changed their group dynamic that sometimes it was more of a relief for him to be gone.

“Well,” Sora carried on obliviously. “Want to walk me the rest of the way to my room?”

Kairi’s smile widened. “Always.”

The conversation between them flowed as easily as ever. Sora avoided any mention of his trip, probably saving it for later when Riku was around, but he was full of enthusiasm about what he was going to eat for dinner. She teased him about his obsession with island delicacies like melons cut in the shape of stars and steamed fish and stuffed buns. He made fun of her fondness for Radiant Garden’s more varied cuisine, like sea-salt flavored ice cream scoops and braised short ribs and savory pancakes.

“You two are making me so hungry,” said a new voice as they turned the corner. It was Axel, leaning against the wall in his midnight coat and matching gloves. His eyes opened when they stopped, catching on Kairi before he quickly looked away. “Unless you have any of the food you’re talking about, stop it.”

Sora grinned, folding his arms behind his head. “What, you’re not going to welcome me back with a full-course meal?”

“You wish. Some of us have _real_ jobs.”

“Being a gummi pilot _is_ a real job!”

As Axel and Sora dissolved into their usual back and forth, Kairi watched them from a few paces away, paces that suddenly felt like miles. She didn’t know how to break into the conversation, and she wasn’t even sure that she should. She’d always gotten the impression that Axel didn’t particularly like her. It was a rare day when he spoke to her directly, and an even rarer one that they were alone together.

To be fair, most of the time, she didn’t notice. He was part of the Organization and Leon’s spy network was always in and out of the castle. Their paths didn’t cross often enough for them to bond, really, even though he was only two years older than her.

But at times like this, when it was clear how close Axel somehow was to her two best friends, Kairi felt a little rejected.

“I’m not your servant,” Axel said, bringing a finger to his temple. “Got it memorized?”

“No, we don’t.” Kairi made herself grin up at Axel, encouraging him to share in the joke the way her grandmother Umiko had always taught her to do in tense social situations. “Maybe you should write it down.”

Sora broke out into laughter, and Axel finally looked at her, straight on, his lips twitching like he wanted to smile but wouldn’t let himself. Kairi stared him down, daring him to slight her now with Sora right beside them like a living ball of sunshine. It seemed like too long a moment before Axel finally did smile.

“I walked right into that,” he admitted. “All right, Kairi gets a free meal. You’re out of luck, Sora.”

“ _No fair_!”

Kairi realized that this was the first time in a long time that Axel had actually said her name. And that, once again, he was looking at Sora and not her. What had she done to him, anyway? And was whatever it was worth trying to make amends for, or should she just leave it alone? He seemed fine. She was fine, most of the time. Not everyone was going to like her, and that was _fine_.

She was probably worrying over nothing.

“Anyway, I have to go settle in and stuff,” Sora said at last. “But it was nice to see you, Axel!”

“Yeah, you too. Welcome back.”

Axel lifted his hand in a cheery wave, then stuffed both of them in his pockets and ambled off without a word to Kairi. She frowned as she watched him disappear around the far corner. _Well, goodbye to you, too._

“You okay?” Sora asked, pulling her out of her reverie.

It was impossible for Kairi to look at his face and not smile, even as something heavy settled in the pit of her stomach that she couldn’t quite shake off. She stepped in close to Sora, taking the comfort that being near him provided her and trying to remind herself that so many people _did_ like her that it didn’t matter if one maybe didn’t.

“I’m fine. Let’s get you to your room,” she teased. “You’re stinking up the whole hallway.”

  
  


The only reason that Sora didn’t go looking for Leon after landing was that he figured Leon would be with Cloud. Considering his brother worked like the entire universe would implode if he didn’t, Sora made it a priority to give Cloud as much alone time with Leon as Cloud could get.

Which meant that, instead of making a beeline for the office, Sora said goodbye to Kairi outside of his room, his mind already on the shower he was about to take. It had only been hours, but the sardined bodies in the cramped gummi made him feel like he carried the scents of the whole crew with him when he got out. Especially since Kairi had teased him about the smell.

Besides, he liked water. It reminded him of his childhood.

Just before he entered, however, Sora paused. His room was five doors down from Leon’s, and the shadows beneath Leon’s door were shifting from a flickering light within.

Sora made his way to that door and quietly pushed it open. A series of hills beneath the blanket was identifiable as Cloud by the blonde spikes that jutted out from between the blanket and the pillow. A single candle was the only illumination in the room, but Sora didn’t need lights to see that Cloud was the only one in it.

He shook his head. Leon hadn’t even _left his office_.

“Sorry, Cloud,” he murmured, pulling the door shut. Honestly, Leon could be such an idiot sometimes.

In contrast to Leon’s dark room, Sora’s was already lit by the sunlight through the open windows and the floating flames encased in glass lanterns that lined the walls. His bed had been turned down, like they’d been expecting him, and the floor was spotless and gleaming. He was about to tug off his hoodie when he saw something red on his pillow and headed that way instead.

It was a wrapped box. Sora could have unwrapped it the long way, but instead he summoned his keyblade and tapped the top. The box popped open and disappeared, leaving its contents behind: a keychain and a note. 

“ _Dad brought this back from one of his trips and I thought you might like it_ ,” it read in a familiar script. “ _Maybe it’ll help you stay on your feet for once_.” The note wasn’t signed, but beneath the words were the numbers “ _3-30_ ,” which was a different kind of signature.

Sora realized he was smiling before he’d even consciously decided to. With the race, it should have been signed _4-30_ , so this was either left here before he’d even arrived or Riku was just being a dick again. Regardless, the present was sweet.

He set down the note and looked at the keychain. It was shaped like Sora’s silver crown necklace, except it was black, like it had been dipped in ink. The obsidian token read “Oblivion.”

He removed his Pumpkinhead keychain and replaced it with Riku’s, watching as the keyblade transformed. Oblivion was the color of a starless night sky, its hilt comprised of two bat-like wings, its blade longer than Pumpkinhead and lined with a black chain design. Sora ran his fingers over the blue diamond in the hilt and then over the complex design of the teeth.

It was badass. It was beautiful. It was... so _Riku_.

If he ignored the note, this was probably one of the nicest things anyone had ever given him. He almost wanted to give it back, but Riku always got deeply offended whenever he or Kairi returned things that he’d given them. Sometimes, it was like he didn’t even realize that he was a prince. 

“Oblivion,” he whispered, touching the length of the blade one more time before he made it disappear. “I’m gonna use it to kick his _ass_.”

  
  


Riku’s muscles were still aching from combat training by the time the three of them had climbed to the top of the castle-shaped hedge in the center of the garden. There was a flat space behind one of the turrets, and Kairi had declared it as good a spot as any. She’d also brought him a potion with that psychic sense she had for when one of her friends were hurting.

Below, Goofy and Terra were doing laps with some of the Royal Guards, including Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie. Riku had expected Kairi to invite them up, too, especially since she and Selphie were kind of close. But the thought hadn’t seemed to occur to her, and he wasn’t going to be the one to propose it.

Riku didn’t like huge groups of people anyway.

“See?” said Kairi, smoothing her pink dress down over her legs. “Isn’t this nice?”

“Nice, yes,” said Riku. “Nicer than sparring…?”

Sora snickered, but otherwise didn’t say anything. Which was smart. Even now, Riku had to actively work not to take it personally when Sora agreed with Kairi over him. There had been a time when he hadn’t put in the effort, and Kairi hadn’t either, and the three of them had fought near-constantly as a result. That rough patch in their friendship had only ended when they had looked to Sora to settle a matter as trivial as what ice cream flavor at the Dream Festival was the best, and Sora had burst into tears out of fear of which one of them he’d piss off by answering.

They’d mutually agreed to be better for his sake after that.

“Sora,” Kairi said with a smile. “Tell us about your trip! Where’d you go this time?”

Technically, the Black Coats were a black-ops group whose activities were only to be reported to King Mickey, Queen Minnie, and spymaster Leon. But, _technically_ , Riku knew they always left Sora on the ship or in the town while they did their thing, giving him enough time and space to find stories of his own.

Sora told them about Traverse Town, about the giant bell atop the Gizmo Shop and the lavish house in which he’d found too many Dalmatians to count. He told them about Merlin’s Magicians Study and the Flower & Plant garden that took up most of Fifth District. He told them about the beautiful Fountain Plaza and the gorgeously decorated Hotel that anyone could just walk through. What he didn’t need to tell them was how Traverse Town kept adding features and districts because more and more people were ending up there as their own worlds were lost to darkness.

Just as Sora and Riku’s had been. Just as Kairi’s had been.

By the time Sora finished talking, the sun was stretching peach fingers across the dimming sky as if clinging to the last few minutes it got to shine. Riku stopped staring at the colors only when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Kairi had drawn her knees up to her chest and was peering down at Sora with her eyebrows drawn together, but it was Sora rolling onto his stomach as carefully as he could without tumbling off the hedge that had caught Riku’s attention.

“Okay,” Sora said. “Now someone else talk.”

Riku glanced at Kairi. She lifted her eyebrows. Beside her, Sora copied her expression, putting him on the spot.

“Well,” Riku began. “We reopened the Raceway for summer competitions? And that’s gone pretty well so far. Mom wants to organize some regular charity races to give back to the town—”

“We should totally race,” Sora interrupted, grinning wide. “I mean, if you can call what you do racing.”

“Excuse me? I can race. I wiped the floor with you in the Light Cycle Arena.”

Kairi’s expression had clouded with confusion, and for good reason. It was rare that Riku left Disney Castle, being the heir to the throne and all, but no one could make him stupid and reckless like Sora. It had started with an argument that Riku could no longer remember the cause of and had ended with the two of them in Sora’s gummi ship, taking off toward a world called Twilight Town. Once, on a trip with the Black Coats, Sora had discovered a computer with another hidden world, the Space Paranoids; naturally, he’d dragged Riku there to settle their argument by racing light cycles in the Grid. Riku had picked it up as easily as he picked up anything, and he had beaten Sora six times before Sora had finally conceded.

It was one of Riku’s fondest memories, despite the hell they had caught from just about everyone when they’d finally flown back home. But Kairi hadn’t been with them. She hadn’t even come back from Yen Sid’s tower that day. Riku had assumed that Sora would have told her, but apparently not…

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh, right, sorry. It’s kind of a long story, Kairi.” He tossed a smirk in Sora’s direction. “The point is that our friend here’s really got no reason to be so cocky about his skills.”

“So you admit I have some!”

The confusion on Kairi’s face had melted into something a little more complicated, something that made guilt prickle in Riku’s stomach. So, instead of engaging Sora, he looked back out at the horizon.

“Your turn to talk now,” he said. “Tell Sora what’s been going on with you, Kairi.”

She seemed to think for a moment, or maybe she needed a second to throw off the weird tension between them. “I don’t think I have a story as good as _that_. The other day I—”

A scream ripped through the twilight air.

Riku was on his feet in seconds. Sora shot up next to him. And Kairi pointed, her eyes wide and her cheeks pale. “There are heartless down there!”

It was _impossible_. It should have been impossible.

But there they were.

  
  


Sora summoned his keyblade, which still had the Oblivion keychain on it. Then he leaped off the hedge and rolled onto his feet in the grass. Inky shadows darted through the yard, slinking across the ground and then rising with unholy yellow eyes trained on their targets. He could hear them hissing—

_Hearts… where… want… hearts… mine… where… take…_

—so he wasted no time in cutting through the first one to appear in front of him. It exploded into a mist of shadow, leaving behind a floating heart that disappeared to return its owner. If Sora had his way, none of the creatures would escape with any.

“Sora!”

He whirled around in time to see Riku flip through the air, taking out not one, not three, but _four_ heartless with a series of slashes. He landed with Soul Eater still extended, then whirled around to cut down a fifth without breaking a sweat.

Riku straightened and smirked at him. “Giving up already?”

Sora fell into battle stance at once. “You wish!”

Riku laughed and then they both leaped back into action. All around him, he could hear grunts and shouts as the Royal Guard tried to keep the heartless at bay and protect their prince. But there was no protecting Riku from this, and they knew that. The fastest way to kill a heartless was with a keyblade, and the only Guard who had one was—

“Watch out, Your Highness!”

Riku ducked as Terra swung Earthshaker through the air, killing the heartless that had jumped at the back of his head. But the move only made more heartless swarm around them. They stood back to back in a circle of darkness, and Sora was on the other side of the yard from them.

“Riku—” he said, hurtling forward and nearly crashing right into another shadow heartless.

Its antennae twitched. _Heart… strong… want… heart…_

Sora took a step back, his chest lurching painfully. “Back off,” he said, fingers tightening on Oblivion. “I won’t let you take anyone’s heart!”

The heartless tilted its head as if it could understand. But before it could move, before _Sora_ could move, the shadow exploded in a blast of light. He scanned the crowd until he found Riku – only to see that the heartless around the prince had exploded as well.

And standing between the two of them was Kairi, Destiny’s Embrace held high and glowing with light.

“Thundaga!” she shouted, and blasts of lightning erupted from her keyblade. It cut through another row of heartless, illuminating Kairi’s hair, her eyes, her skin, making her look like an avenging angel.

Sora made his way to Riku’s side. “Hey, are you all right?”

“We…” Riku began, then shook his head and gave Sora an incredulous look. “We were going to let her fight the winner.”

Sora laughed, though there was a hysterical edge to it. His heart was trying to pound right out of his chest. Leave it to Riku to make him laugh even in the middle of a warzone.

Terra switched Earthshaker to his left hand and used his right to touch Sora’s shoulder. “Hey, nice keyblade.” Then he nodded his head at Kairi, who was now swinging Destiny’s Embrace at another cluster of heartless. “Also, we should help her.”

Kairi hit a heartless so hard that the end of her keyblade made a hole in the ground.

“…or not,” Terra said, bemused.

Sora grinned as he swung Oblivion around and aimed. “Fira!” His magic was a little more erratic since he and Donald couldn’t go a whole session without bickering, but he still managed to light up two heartless with the spell. His grin widened as he looked at Riku. “Giving up already?”

Riku chuckled and, together, they ran to help Kairi.

  
  


Riku knew that now wasn’t the time, so he held it in until heartless stopped sprouting in the courtyard. Then he held it in as he leaned against his keyblade and breathed hard, his eyes on his friends practically cuddling in the grass. Out of exhaustion, yes, and it was the only way that they were both sitting up. But it was cuddling all the same.

Now _wasn’t the time_. He held it in and tried to focus.

Terra was frowning at him, a few Guards behind him waiting for instruction. But Riku’s mind was still reeling. There weren’t supposed to be heartless at Disney Castle. There had _never_ been heartless in Disney Castle. Heartless were a sign that darkness had infested the world, that the world would soon fall like so many before it, and that entire concept was impossible because Disney Castle had the Cornerstone of Light.

Riku forced himself to think. “Inside,” he said to the Guard. “Check the palace and make sure the threat has been completely eradicated and that everyone is safe.”

Though he knew that Goofy and the rest of the Guards had likely already done that, Terra led those remaining in the yard away without question. It was respect, yes, but Riku also suspected that the older man knew that he needed a moment alone to gather his thoughts. Or, hell, maybe Terra just wanted to confirm for himself that Master Aqua and Ventus were all right. Riku understood the impulse.

As soon as they were gone, Sora was looking up at him. His eyes were wide and fearful. “Riku, do you think Disney Castle is going to—”

“Of course not,” he snapped. And then he ran a hand over his face. “No – sorry. I’m just—”

“It’s okay,” Sora said gently. “I get it.” There was a pause before Sora whispered, “I miss Destiny Islands, too.”

The name of his birthplace reached around his heart and squeezed, making Riku take a shaky breath. He lowered his hand to meet Sora’s gaze, saw the same raw loss reflected in them. Outside of the occasional small references to food or weather or clothes, they never talked about where they’d come from before they’d been brought here, and so Riku was never emotionally prepared to deal with it. He, Sora, Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie were the only remaining people who even knew the Destiny Islands that had once existed.

How long would it be before Disney Castle was just a memory, too?

Riku blinked at the sudden warm touch and looked down to see Kairi’s hand on his arm. “Hey. You heard Terra. It’s going to be all right. This is our home now, and we’re older than we were when – before. We won’t let this world fall to the darkness.”

“Yeah,” said Sora from his other side. He held up Oblivion. “We can fight back now, and we couldn’t before. And if we can fight, we can win.”

 _They even have the same optimism,_ Riku thought wryly. He’d never met two people so well-suited for one another.

And so he smiled, because how could he not? He loved them, both of them, so _much_ , even if he wasn’t always the best at showing it. “Thanks, guys. But shouldn’t I be consoling you, here?”

“You were taking too long, so we stole your moment,” Kairi said with a giggle. “Be faster next time.”

Riku laughed. And then the sound died in his throat.

Because someone in the castle was screaming.

Riku shook his friends off and ran.


	2. Cornerstone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the kudos and the comments! I'm so grateful for how you've embraced this story, and I hope you enjoy this latest installment.

Riku raced into the Colonnade and up the stairs, his heart in his throat. The hallway was teeming with heartless and peppered with guards hacking at the tiny beasts until they disappeared. At the end of it was Roxas, dual-wielding his keyblades, while Axel was beside him throwing flaming chakrams this way and that.

Cowering in front of the Audience Chamber was Duchess Daisy. “Your Highness,” she screamed. “Look out!”

Riku didn’t turn. He didn’t need to. Seconds after her shout, he heard the sound of a heartless imploding as either Sora or Kairi watched his back. Leaving them to it, he raced for the duchess, Soul Eater cutting through every heartless in his path.

“Where are mom and dad?” he asked as he made his way to Daisy’s side. The heartless seemed to be learning, lurking nearby or sinking into the ground as he looked at them instead of attacking. Riku’s fingers twitched restlessly on the handle of his keyblade. “Are they all right? Are  _you_  all right?”

Daisy clung to his leg. “The Hall of the Cornerstone.”

The fact that she declared this openly was a sign of how dire things had gotten. Riku stepped back enough to see into the Audience Chamber, and he realized, then, that the reason that Daisy had screamed loud enough to shake the world was not just because she had been ambushed in the hallway.

The Audience Chamber was lined with heartless like he’d never seen before. They weren’t shadows with bulbous gold eyes and antennas, innumerable and parasitic. The only similarity was the round black head, the glowing yellow eyes. But the head was at the base of what looked like a massive red and yellow pyramid, like armor floating in the air. A brown antenna stuck out of the top, with spikes up there and at the bottom. Eight of the heartless lined the red carpet that led to the throne, bobbing up and down as they waited, like sentinels hungry for blood.

Riku wanted to scream a little himself. What  _were_  those?

“The Cornerstone, Your Highness,” Daisy said again, yanking his attention back to her. “It’s the only way.”

He’d never even told Sora and Kairi about the Cornerstone. But then he had never needed to. Yes, Disney Castle had survived where so many other worlds had failed, but it was King Mickey that had come to be the symbol of all of that: of hope, of light, of all things good. His three circle emblem, shaped exactly like his head, was everywhere, an iconography giving people faith.

Besides, the more people knew about the Cornerstone, the more danger it was in of doing exactly what it was doing now.

Failing. 

Daisy looked up at him, her feathered hand tightening in the fabric of his pants. “Riku,” she said. “You have to take them. You have to hurry.” 

“Okay,” Riku said, “Get to the library.”

The duchess nodded and then zipped off, weaving through the clusters of heartless and the blurred forms of Guards fighting for their lives. She was mere feet away from Roxas’ waiting arms when a shadow surged up from the floor and lunged toward her.

“No!”

Riku saw Roxas’ lips form the words at the same time that Riku was shouting it, but Roxas was the one who was close enough to actually do something. Roxas’ keyblades disappeared as he leapt forward, curling his body around Daisy like a shield and rolling them both under the heartless to safety.

Except there was nowhere in this hallway that was safe.

Before Roxas could get up, more heartless rose around him, surrounding him and Daisy while she hid in the circle of his arms. Riku couldn’t see Roxas’ expression from where he was standing, but the blonde’s fingers flexed like he was debating between releasing Daisy to summon his keyblades or continuing to keep her close instead of risking her safety in a fight.

The heartless made the decision for him. They attacked.

“Roxas!” Riku heard Sora shout as he raced past him.

But before Sora had even taken five steps, Axel was there. He stood between Roxas and Daisy and the wave of heartless, his chakrams gone. In their place…

“Whoa,” Riku, Sora, and Kairi said as one.

Axel looked as stunned by the keyblade in his hand as they did. He held it with an expression so bewildered that one would have thought he’d been given a pickle to defend himself with instead of a weapon that seemed to be made of living flame. Then he backhanded the nearest heartless with the keyblade, laughing when it exploded into nothingness after only one strike.

Riku realized that Roxas had taken advantage of the confusion to usher Daisy safely into the library. He waited until Roxas and his keyblades had returned to guard Axel’s back and then waved his arm to catch Sora and Kairi’s attention. They could deal with Axel’s newfound power later.

“Follow me!” he shouted.

He heard Kairi gasp as she caught sight of the new heartless in the Audience Chamber, heard Sora swing Oblivion again and again in an attempt to take one down. They were more durable than the shadows; Sora’s keyblade connected at least ten times before the heartless finally exploded.

“Keep moving!” he called, halfway to the throne by that point. “We need to get to my parents!” 

Kairi cast another Thundaga and then Riku heard her and Sora’s footsteps behind him. The throne was already pushed to the side, the stairs that led down to the Hall of the Cornerstone visible before he reached the parapet. He dashed down them and into the small room that was lit only by the glowing ball of the Cornerstone.

A glowing ball that was currently being strangled by black thorns. 

His mother’s back was to him, casting light spell after light spell. Each one seemed to bounce off the thorns ineffectually. Between them was his father, Star Seeker held high, settled into a defensive stance that relaxed when he caught sight of Riku. 

“Oh, boy, thank goodness you’re all right!” Mickey said with a relieved laugh. “And, great, you brought Sora and Kairi.”

“Your Majesty, what’s going on?” Sora asked as he came up alongside Riku. “What  _is_  this place?” 

“No time to explain right now,” Mickey said, glaring around Riku. “Boys, to me. Kairi, help Minnie.”

“Your Majesty, I want to fight,” Kairi said from Riku’s other side. “I  _can_  fight. I’ve been training—”

“I know,” said Mickey. “But if Master Yen Sid is to be believed, you’ve got the strongest light magic of almost anyone here. And if we don’t fix the Cornerstone, we can fight all we want, but they’ll just keep coming until—”

Kairi raced to Minnie without another word.

Riku and Sora joined the king, who eyed Sora’s keyblade and then raised his eyebrows at Riku when Sora wasn’t looking. Riku could feel himself blushing and hoped the dim light would cover it as he turned away from his father’s knowing stare. 

He never thought he’d be so happy to see heartless stream down the stairs.

Sora was close enough to touch, but Riku quickly lost sight of him as they met the heartless blade first, shouting spells and grunting from exertion. Behind them, like a baseline, Kairi and the queen cast Pearl again and again, trying to coax the Cornerstone into fighting back. And still the heartless kept coming.

Until — until they didn’t. 

The room exploded with light, so blinding that Riku threw an arm over his eyes and groped, unseeing, for Sora so he could cover Sora, too. The skin of his eyelids was illuminated for several minutes before the light faded to a more bearable glow and Riku felt safe lowering his arms. Sora blinked his ocean eyes at Riku and then turned his head left and right, taking in first the Cornerstone, then the heartless-free room, and then the Cornerstone again.

“Okay,” he said, “ _Now_  will you tell me what’s going on?”

Mickey let go of his keyblade and dismissed it back into the keychain at his side. “We’ll tell you on the way,” he said as he took the few steps required to check if Minnie was all right. Their noses touched affectionately, and Riku had to look away from how grossly adorable his parents were. “We need to have a war council meeting and fast.”

 

 

Cloud poured a glass of water that he handed to Umiko and then poured another for himself. The knowing look on the elderly woman’s face made it clear that his nonchalance was fooling no one, but Cloud had already committed to it and, as such, he wasn’t dropping the facade anytime soon.

“But,” said the source of his irritation, “I thought the Princesses of Heart were just a story.”

The fact that this war council was the first time he’d seen Leon since leaving his office a few hours ago didn’t seem to bother Leon as much as it did Cloud, and Cloud hated that it bothered him at all. On top of that, being dragged from his dead slumber for this impromptu meeting to discover that he’d  _slept through_  a heartless attack on the castle had left him with a restless anger that wanted to be directed somewhere. Nonchalance was his only defense, and nonchalance would be easier if Leon would shut the hell up.

“Most stories are grounded in truth,” said Umiko, dragging Cloud out of his own head. “Any tale too far removed from the pathos of living would never endure in people’s hearts.”

The king nodded. “In the case of this story, most of it’s true. There was a legendary keyblade made from the hearts of all worlds, and it broke into seven pieces of light. That fragmented light was reborn as seven hearts, belonging to the seven Princesses of Heart.”

King Mickey pressed a button on his wireless keyboard and an image came up on the projected screen. It was a collage of photos of six women, all of whom Cloud recognized from various missions with the Black Coats from the last seventeen years. He’d helped Belle restore her father to health in Beast’s Castle. He’d rescued Alice from several absurd trials in Wonderland. He’d found fabric to repair Cinderella’s torn dress in the Castle of Dreams. Jasmine, Snow White, Aurora — Cloud recognized them all. 

But he hadn’t recognized that they were Princesses of Heart.

“Your Majesty,” said Master Terra. “That’s only six. Where is the seventh Princess of Heart?”

A strange expression passed over the king’s face as he looked down, frowning. “We thought we had found her in Radiant Garden long ago but… we may have been wrong. We're keeping an eye on that, but these six were confirmed to possess the power. Decades ago, Maleficent used them to open the Door to Darkness and spill enough heartless into the worlds that they began to fall one by one.”

Leon met Cloud’s gaze over the table and raised both eyebrows in a clear message:  _What do you think?_

Cloud shrugged.  _It would make sense._

Sometimes, he hated how something as simple as a moment of silent communication could erase all of his irritation in an instant. Other times, like now, he was relieved at the reminder that they were still so in sync, even if it meant that he was the one who was  _really_  causing their problems.

But he did know what Leon was thinking of. They had met each other, and King Mickey, in Traverse Town when they were twenty years old, after Cid had managed to get Leon, Aerith, Zack, and Yuffie out of an overrun Radiant Garden. Unlike other worlds, though, it had taken months afterward for Radiant Garden to fall, enough time for them to rescue several others who had subsequently chosen to make new lives in Traverse Town. In their last mission there before it fell, they had faced down Maleficent herself. At the time, they had thought she was actively trying to bring the world down, but what if she had been looking for the final Princess of Heart?

He shelved the thought for later and tuned back into the conversation.

“The number of worlds that have been lost to darkness despite our best efforts is immeasurable. Even one is too many,” the king continued. “But the worlds protected by the Princesses of Heart have never flickered. If the Cornerstone is dying, and I fear that it is, they’re our best chance to keep Disney Castle safe.”

“So, what?” Cid asked, leaning back in his chair with his arms folded. “We’re gonna marry yer boy off to one of these Princesses of Heart to power the Cornerstone? Seems a little dark for you, Your Majesty.” 

Cloud cut a glance at the prince. He hadn’t said a word since the council had began and didn’t even react to Cid’s words. Instead, he was staring up at the projector with a remote, unreadable look on his face. Missions aside, dating Leon all these years had allowed Cloud to know Sora so well that it was almost like he’d adopted the boy, too. But Prince Riku was still a mystery to most people, Cloud included.

Luckily, the king was far more transparent.

“Of  _course_  not,” Mickey said as though Cid had suggested that he start ripping off Riku’s fingernails one by one. “Riku will marry when he’s ready and no sooner. All of these princesses are married or otherwise engaged, anyway. This is what we really need.”

He pressed another button and suddenly there were six new women on the screen, from further flung worlds than the originals. Princess Elsa and Princess Anna from Arendelle. The newly discovered Princess Rapunzel from the Kingdom of Corona, who had been kidnapped as a baby. Red-haired Princess Merida from DunBroch, dimple-cheeked Tiana from the Bayou, and fierce-hearted Moana from Motonui. Cloud hadn’t met all of them, but he could tell from the expressions around the room that everyone on the war council had at least heard of them.

“As a cosmic security measure, once the Princesses of Heart have been combined to form a Door to Darkness, the light in their hearts is reincarnated so that those women can never be used the same way again. The original six are still strong enough to protect their own worlds, but their light magic can no longer stretch beyond that. Thankfully, from Master Yen Sid’s research, we can confirm that  _these_ six women are what he’s calling the New Six Lights.” The king sat back in his chair. “I’m proposing that we reach out to the new Princesses of Heart for aid. Maybe one of them can fix the Cornerstone — or at least charge it until we have a more permanent solution.” 

“Marriage is permanent,” said the prince blandly.

“Not necessarily,” Cid and Umiko said together before sharing a grin. 

“Riku,” Minnie murmured, placing a hand over her son’s on the table. “We would never do that to you.” 

Prince Riku raised his other hand to clasp his mother’s in both of his own. “I know. But I also know my duty, and it’s to our people. If that means—”

“ _No,”_  King Mickey said with finality. “Are there any further suggestions?” 

Umiko rubbed the folds of her wrinkled jaw. “I can see what I can find in the library. If the New Six Lights can’t come right now, maybe there’s some way to transfer some of their light to the Cornerstone remotely.” 

“I’ll help with that,” said Donald. “Maybe I can find a new spell to make that happen.”

“The Black Coats have done the worlds a few favors over the years,” Cloud added. “I can send some of my agents to make our case in person and ask for aid.”

“I have ears on the ground,” Leon said. “I’ll see what they’ve heard.”

Leon’s eyes met his across the table, and Cloud knew what he was saying. More work. Less time together. Business as usual, with or without a world to save. At least Cloud would have something to do besides wait.

“Terra and I’ll beef up security in Disney Town,” said Goofy without even a trademark laugh. Terra nodded solemnly beside him. “So if the heartless do come back, our people won’t be sufferin’. Maybe you can help us with that, Master Aqua?”

“Of course,” she said with a respectful bow of her head.  

The prince leaned over to whisper something to his mother, who nodded back with a small smile. Mickey looked around at all of them with pride, even the silent Cid whose skills were ill suited to the situation. Then he shut off the projector. “All right, then. Dismissed.”

 

 

Leon wasn’t sure what woke him, but the first thing he knew was that he was being watched. His gunblade was within wielding distance, and his cheek was pressed against one of the many maps that had been unrolled on his desk. There was a crick in his neck and someone in his office that didn’t seem particularly concerned by the visible weapon next to Leon’s chair. 

He opened his eyes and found his little brother frowning at him.

“What?” Leon asked around a wide yawn, sitting up and peeling the map off his cheek. It was of the Enchanted Dominion. Of course it was. “Did I miss dinner or something?”

“Did you know Cloud and I have been back for three days and I’ve only seen you leave this room for the heartless battle and the war council? Both of which happened on  _the same day_?” Sora asked, folding his arms. “Leon, you can’t keep doing this. You’re hurting yourself most of all, you know.” 

“I’m fine. Aerith brings food.” He gestured toward the empty plates on the side table wedged into the corner. “Anyway, there’s a lot going on right now.”

“There’s always a lot going on.”

They had had this argument often enough that Leon could give canned responses while letting his mind wander. As always, his thoughts went back to the latest threat facing Disney Castle. He hated the feeling of uselessness that accompanied foes of darkness. Without a keyblade, there wasn’t much anyone could do to permanently stop the heartless from coming. And ever since he had retired from being a member of the Black Coats, he’d been unable to take an active role in protecting anyone at all. If his spies couldn’t help him cut off the enemy before they even got close, then...

Leon sighed and rubbed his eyes, hoping that would make them less strained. It didn’t.

Sora stopped mid-argument and gave him a concerned look. “You need to sleep. Properly. Like in a  _bed_ , Leon, I mean it. You’re no help to anyone like this.”

He opened his mouth to say something reassuring, probably, but then there was a knock on the door. “Come in.”

It was Axel. Leon hadn’t been expecting the redhead, but he waved him in anyway. Usually, this would be the point at which he ushered Sora out of his office, but, given what they had just been arguing about, he didn’t think it was wise. Besides, Sora was an honorary member of the Black Coats by now; Leon was surprised he’d grown to twenty without trying to join up to do more than just pilot the ship.

Axel glanced at Sora and then at Leon. He only began talking when Leon nodded his permission. “We’ve managed to confirm that the attack on the Cornerstone came from Maleficient, but there’s been no sign of her around Disney Town, sir.”

“Can she affect the Cornerstone from another world?” Leon asked, sorting through the papers on his desk until he found his last report on Maleficent’s powers and reach. Sora caught his pen before it rolled off the front of the desk and passed it to him. “What did Merlin say?”

“He says it’s possible because anything’s possible, but incredibly unlikely.” Axel rolled his eyes. The retired wizard’s penchant for riddles had never been his favorite thing. “To launch an attack of the magnitude capable of disabling the Cornerstone, she’d have to be close enough to tamper with it.”

“Then how are we finding no sign of her?”

“Maybe she doesn’t look like herself,” Sora suggested. “One time, we went to Atlantica, and Ariel told me that Ursula could make herself look like a beautiful princess. Maybe Maleficent’s doing that.”

“It’s not exactly her style,” Axel shrugged, “But we can’t rule it out, I guess. We can at least investigate any new faces in Disney Town that aren’t on the last census.”

“And have we got anything on those weird new heartless that were in the throne room?”

“Not yet, but, according to the king, Master Yen Sid is looking into it. He thinks the heartless have just evolved from plunging so many worlds into darkness by now, but it’s a ‘theory, not a hypothesis’.” Axel’s fingers curled in genuine air quotes before he rolled his eyes again. “Whatever  _that_ means.”

“Thanks, Axel,” Leon said, scribbling that down, too. “If there’s nothing else, you’re dismissed.”

“Well, there  _is_  one more thing…”

Leon looked up to see Axel leaning against the doorpost, his arms folded and a smile on his face. “What is it?”

“As it turns out, you’re looking at the newest keyblade wielder in Disney Castle. I know, I know, I was shocked, too.” Though his voice remained casual, there was something manic in Axel’s eyes, like the excitement or the fear was already getting to be too much for him. “Anyway, with the Cornerstone breaking down and all, the king’s decided I should start training next week, which means I’ve got to cut down on my hours with the Organization. Roxas will be doing my reports from now on. Got it memorized?”

Leon frowned, trying to process this information. Sora didn’t look surprised by it, which meant that Axel’s newfound power to wield the keyblade must have been one of those things that happened while Leon was locked in his office. As happy as he was for Axel, he couldn’t help but be bitter, too. Axel was one of his best spies. He had an innate talent for charming and misdirecting people so they never looked too close at his actions or read too much into his doublespeak. And there was a respect between them that Leon lacked with the other members of the Organization.

If he had to choose a second in command, though, he supposed he  _would_  choose Roxas. Axel had trained Roxas personally. Leon told himself it wouldn’t be a loss. It was just a reallocation of resources.

“Well,” he said at last. “Good for you, Axel. I’ll still see you around, I guess.”

“Couldn’t get rid of me if you tried, boss.” Axel gave him a salute. With a last smile in Sora’s direction, he was gone.

Leon’s head began to buzz with too much information for his tired mind to possess. This was the worst possible time to lose Axel. Maleficent was a dangerous enemy to have in the king’s backyard, and now he’d lost one of his eyes on her.

He shuffled through his notes, settling on the abbreviation of Axel’s report that he had just scribbled down. What could Maleficent’s end game be? What would make the most sense? For her to try and plunge Disney Castle into darkness or for her to try and dethrone the king? And why would she do that here and now? Enchanted Dominion was her realm; why wouldn’t she focus her attack there? Could it be for the seventh Princess of Heart?

But if the king had the _real_ seventh Princess of Heart here, the Cornerstone wouldn’t be failing. He'd more or less said as much during the council.

Perhaps Maleficent needed the power of the Cornerstone for an attack on the Enchanted Dominion? Or perhaps she was the source of the new heartless and wanted to test them here before using them to conquer her own kingdom…?

Leon rubbed his eyes again, already feeling the beginnings of a headache.

He blinked as a bottle was shoved under his nose and looked up to see that, at some point, Sora had left, too. In his place was Cloud, a Potion in his hand.

“Axel said you look like a dead man,” he explained, uncapping the bottle and holding it out again. “Take it, since you’re not going to bed.”

“I love you,” Leon said as he did just that. He instantly felt the healing magic race through his body, making him more alert and getting rid of his headache. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Cloud smirked. “Yeah, I know.”

 

 

 

Axel had actually never been to the Mysterious Tower. There was only one place of interest in that entire world, and that was Master Yen Sid’s bizarre home that kept changing locations and that had as many or as few rooms as he wanted it to have at any given moment. The king had never shown a desire to spy on his former teacher, and thus Axel had never been sent here on any pretense.

Except now. Except today.

And this was no pretense. He flexed his fingers, his eyes on his hands. The hands that had summoned a keyblade a week ago. He still couldn’t believe it.

“Why are you so surprised?” Roxas had asked when Axel had expressed his disbelief, the battle long over and both of them excluded from the war council. Shockingly, spies weren’t allowed on the war council. “You’ve always had a strong heart, Axel.”

“Me?” Axel had scoffed. “Please.”

Roxas had rolled his eyes. “It always impresses me how you can manage to be the cockiest and the most insecure person I know.”

“There was a time when you looked at me with stars in your eyes, you know. Don't feel like you need to grow out of that or anything.”

At this, Roxas had snorted. “You’re great, okay? Now, shut up about it.”

Which was about as reassuring as Roxas ever got anymore, really. But it had been enough to get him here at the king’s command, ready to begin his training as a keyblade wielder.

He really couldn’t believe it.

The door to the Mysterious Tower opened before he’d even reached it, and there was nothing within but a staircase leading up and up and up.  _Creepy_. That was the other reason Axel didn’t just drop by the Mysterious Tower. What if Master Yen Sid didn’t like you? Did the tower just eat you? Did you float in a room that had stopped existing on outside until he decided to let you out? What if the old man could read minds?

Axel shuddered and took the stairs two at a time before he lost his nerve.

But when he opened the door at the top of the staircase and stepped into the only room in the tower, it was not Master Yen Sid that caught his attention. It was a shock of short auburn hair and cerulean eyes, a tight pink dress and miles of cream legs, a golden keyblade whose bit was made of flower blossoms. It was Kairi, turning around to face him, her expression somersaulting through several options before she settled on pleasant surprise.

“Oh, hi, Axel,” she said. “I guess we’ll be training together, huh?”

Axel fought a sudden urge to throw himself back down the stairs to get out of this awkward situation. He saw Kairi’s face fall as he turned his gaze on Yen Sid instead of answering her, and it wasn’t fair, he knew it wasn’t fair, but he didn’t know how else to play this.

“Together?” he asked the old man, ignoring the girl whose sky blue eyes were now fastened to the floor.

Master Yen Sid smiled, and there was something evil about it. “Actually, Kairi will be your teacher as you learn to control your new power.”

“Teacher?” Axel asked at the same time that Kairi blurted, “But I’m not a Master!”

“You’ve made great strides since you first summoned your keyblade, Kairi,” Yen Sid said. “You’ve got the kind of raw power and great potential that will make you a fine Master one day. And you’re more than qualified to teach Axel the basics. I would do it myself, but I have my hands full training you while researching the mutated heartless that plagued Disney Castle.”

“Then Master Aqua can—”

“Aqua has her hands full as well. Do you not believe yourself ready?”

Kairi’s cheeks flushed prettily and she fell silent, her eyes glued to her shoes again. Axel couldn’t think of a single argument that wouldn’t make him sound like an asshole, but his stomach rebelled at the idea of learning to wield a keyblade from Kairi. Of all people. He had made his distaste for her too obvious for this to be anything but painfully,  _painfully_ awkward.

For a moment, he wondered if the king was trying to punish him for something. There  _was_  a long list of things that would earn Axel a place in this hell.

“It would be my honor, Master,” Kairi murmured beside him. Axel caught her looking at him out of the corner of her eye. “If, of course, Axel will consent to be my student.”

He didn’t miss the challenging glint in her eyes, the same challenge that she’d worn when they had crossed paths in the hallway. It was a silent dare:  _go ahead and make this weird. You’re the one who’ll look dumb._  Axel had no idea why everyone thought that Kairi was so nice and sweet. She had more spunk in her pinky finger than Sora had in his whole body.

Just like in the hallway, Axel knew when to accept defeat. He mirrored her pose, bowing his head. “It would be my honor. When do we begin?”

Now it was Kairi who was smiling an evil smile. “First, we improve your physical fitness,” she said. Behind her, Master Yen Sid was sliding a hand over his beard, which did nothing to hide the smirk that peeked through his fingers. “So, trainee, have you ever tried running up some never-ending stairs?”

  

 

 

Most of the Black Coats were dispersed to follow various leads, but Sephiroth and Masamune were in the yard because it was one of the few places large enough for him to swing the massive sword around. Besides, he needed the wind on his face and through his hair to keep him focused on something other than Cloud.

Impossible though that felt.

Against his will, he found himself missing Olympus with a sudden fierceness that made him have to stop to catch his breath. It wasn’t even his world that he missed. Not really. It was just that those days had been the last time that he remembered his relationship with Cloud being simple. They had been two boys in love, holding hands and exchanging kisses and haltingly exploring this new way to care about each other. And then everything they’d known had been destroyed and  _Leon_  had come into their lives.

Now Leon was Cloud’s life and Sephiroth still hadn’t figured out how to live his without Cloud in it.

He hefted his sword for another round of drills and paused as he caught sight of the prince. Riku looked troubled, his eyes downcast and his hands in the pockets of his jeans as he walked down the path. His mood probably had something to do with Sora. Whether Sora noticed it or not, Riku’s affection for his friend radiated off of him at all times. Sephiroth could recognize pining from a mile away.

He sheathed Masamune just as the prince caught sight of him and lifted one gloved hand in greeting. Riku paused for just a moment before switching directions to join him on his empty patch of grass.

“Training?” the prince asked.

“Always, Your Highness. I don’t suppose you’re interested in a spar?”

“With you?” Riku snorted. “Regicide is a crime, sorry to disappoint.”

Sephiroth didn’t even bother to try and hide his smirk. “In Olympus, I was already the most powerful warrior in existence, second only to Hercules. Cloud said—” The mention of Cloud cut his tongue, making it hard to continue for a moment. But continue he did. “Cloud said he used to want to  _be_  me.”

There was a silence that hung heavy with sympathy – or perhaps... empathy? The strange undertone made Sephiroth frown as he scanned the prince’s face. “Is there something wrong, Your Highness?”

“Yes,” Riku said. He breathed out a laugh. “No. I don’t know.” He ran his fingers through his hair and then ran a hand over his face and then fidgeted with the tops of his fingerless gloves. “I might have to get married soon. No, not might. I will. I know I will.”

Sephiroth’s eyebrow lifted. Although the prince was twenty-one years old, a man grown, the king and the queen had shown no sign of wanting to abdicate the throne just yet. Since they had married for love, Sephiroth had always gotten the impression that Mickey and Minnie wanted their son to marry for love as well. And Riku had only, as far as Sephiroth knew, loved one person, so marriage had never been on the forefront of his mind.

Riku sounded too reluctant for Sora to be the person he was marrying. Luckily, the prince needed Sephiroth to be nothing more than a brick wall for him to emote at.

“I’m just… not ready. I thought I’d have more time for… For a lot of things. And now everything’s going to change and I’m  _not ready_.” Riku huffed out another laugh, this one sounding even more bitter than the first. “Nothing ever changed on Destiny Islands, and I used to dream and hope and  _beg_  for something to happen. And then the world fell to darkness and I ended up here and now every day I hope for everything to stay the same. Even if it’s childish.”

“It’s not childish,” Sephiroth said lightly. “The worst thing in the world is to lose something when you thought you had nothing left to give.”

Riku glared. “This isn’t about that.”

“Isn’t it?”

Riku’s jaw worked with words he never ended up saying, and Sephiroth allowed him the privacy to order his thoughts. It was incredible, in many ways, that he and the prince had never been particularly close given the amount of similarities they shared. Not just physically, but in the loyal, enduring, overwhelming way that they loved in the defiance of reason and rationality.

Though he didn’t think that the prince wanted that similarity pointed out right now, considering Sephiroth’s only love had been dating another man for the last eleven years.

“Sora isn’t mine, but I don’t want to lose him,” Riku admitted at last. “And if – when – I get married, I  _will_  lose him. And it will be my choice.”

“Then do it on your terms.” For a moment, the naked hope and curiosity on the boy’s face made Sephiroth want to warn him. Love was pain, and the more you treasured something, the more likely you were to lose it. But he had almost twenty years on Riku in age and experience, and Riku would learn those lessons soon enough. There was no need for Sephiroth to break him before life did. “We all have choices, Your Highness. Yours will always lead you on the path that does the best for your people, but you’ll regret them less if you make them your way. If you say goodbye to him  _your_  way.”

Riku swallowed, his cheeks paler than usual. “But what if…”

Sephiroth shrugged, because this was a choice that he couldn’t make for the prince. The death knell of the what if’s would dog his every step and stay his hand every time he sought to act. But Sephiroth, at the prince’s age, would at least rather have the question answered than still be asking it in another ten years.

And from the determination that lit Riku’s eyes, he knew Riku agreed.

“Right,” the prince said. “Okay.”

“Good luck,” Sephiroth offered, and he even managed to smile at Riku before the boy turned away to head for the castle. He waited until Riku was long gone before he allowed the expression to drop.

It was truly sad how often the present bore echoes of the past. He just hoped for Riku’s sake that his version of the story had a happier end.

 

 

 

“Hey, sunlight,” said a familiar voice from somewhere behind her. “What exactly are you doing?”

Kairi, who was lying face down on her bed with her eyes clenched shut, turned her head just enough to free her mouth. “Brooding.”

“Ah.” The bed sank as her grandmother sat down on the edge of the mattress. Her warm hand covered Kairi’s back. “It doesn’t suit you.”

She sighed, trying to think of a way to put her feelings into words. Hours of watching Axel jog up and down a flight of stairs whose number of steps kept changing hadn’t managed to ease the weight of the expectations upon her. How was she meant to connect with someone who didn’t even want to know her as a person, let alone as a teacher? Had Master Yen Sid given her this task because he thought she could do it or because he had no other options?

From the moment she had first summoned her keyblade and met Master Yen Sid, Kairi had felt like he saw something special in her. Something  _more_. He never cluttered her education with the burden of high expectations, but just the fact that she got to train with him gave her a sense of purpose she’d been desperately searching for since Radiant Garden had fallen. Master Yen Sid hadn’t trained anyone since the king. For him to come out of retirement to teach her was an honor. She didn’t want to let him down, but she knew somehow that Axel wouldn’t make this easy on her.

“Do you…” Kairi asked, feeling stupid even as she said it. “Do you think I’m special?”

From the corner of her eye, she saw Umiko’s eyebrows draw together. “Every grandmother thinks their grandchild is special, but I get the feeling that’s not what you’re talking about.”

Kairi scooted over on the bed until her side was pressed against Umiko’s. Her grandmother took the hint, sweeping her up off the bed and into a warm hug that made the rest of the words come pouring out. “It’s just that Master Yen Sid has asked me to do something that seems impossible for me in particular to do. And I guess I just always thought that there must be something special about me, something to make me worthy of training with him, something to make me worthy of…” Her eyes filled with tears. “Of being saved when so many others from our world lost their hearts. But if I fail now, even just at this, it will feel like – like there was never anything special about me at all. That maybe I never should have survi—”

“Sunlight,” Umiko said firmly, pulling back until Kairi was forced to look up at her. Her grandmother was the only family that she had left, the only family that she even remembered anymore, and just looking at her face was enough to calm Kairi down. Her navy blue eyes, her wrinkled, pale skin, her silver pompadour hair. Kairi’s parents had passed before Radiant Garden had been lost to darkness, but she couldn’t remember the grief. Not when Umiko had loved her enough for the both of them. “Let me tell you a story.”

“You don’t have to—”

“Once upon a time, there was a little girl with the purest heart that her world had ever known,” Umiko began as if she hadn’t spoken. “Though her life had already been marked with tragedy, the little girl always had a smile on her face and nothing but love in her heart for the people around her. Everyone who met her thought that she was the kindest little girl they had ever seen – and they pitied her. Because they knew what the world was like to people who were kind, and the pain of living, they said, would make her heart as dark and hard as coal soon enough.

“In this, they were right:

“The world was unkind to the kind girl with the pure heart. First, she lost her friends. Then, she lost her home. Finally, she lost herself, her memories of her childhood growing so painful that they retreated too deep for her to reach. She lost and she lost and she lost until the light of her heart grew so faint that it almost went out. Her heart was so crushed that it almost turned to coal.  _Almost_.

“Because in this, they were wrong:

“Under all the weight that the world had asked her to bear, the girl’s heart became a diamond, clear and bright and unbreakable. She made new friends. She found a new home. And piece by piece she put herself back together stronger than before. Strong enough to carry not only her burdens, but those of the people that she loved. Not because they asked her and not because she had to. But because in a world that never showed her any kindness, the little girl had made her kindness her light and her strength.” Umiko placed a hand on top of Kairi’s head, giving her a small smile. “If that doesn’t make her special, then nothing else will.”

The tears that Kairi had been holding at bay slid down her cheeks, no matter how many times Umiko gently wiped them away. Her grandmother had always been gifted with telling stories that transported Kairi far away from whatever else was on her mind. Kairi had dreamed of seeing herself in those stories one day, by learning how to fight, becoming a warrior, and living the kind of life that someone would want to write about. For Umiko to cast her as the hero of one now, not because of anything she had done but because of  _who she was_ …

Kairi threw her arms around her grandmother and sniffled. “Thank you.”

“Whatever it is that Master Yen Sid is asking you to do, I know that you will try your best to see it through and that is all that matters to me,” Umiko murmured against her hair. “But whether you succeed or fail will never make you any more incredible than you already are, my sweet girl. You have nothing to prove to anyone. Okay?”

“Okay,” she whispered back.  _I’m good enough just the way I am. I_ am _good enough just the way I am._  Maybe if she repeated it enough, she would truly believe it. “Okay.”

“Ah—sorry.”

Kairi lifted her head to see Riku standing in the doorway, looking anywhere but at the two of them. Embarrassment at interrupting their private moment was written all over his face, and he looked so awkward about it that Kairi had to giggle. Even Umiko was smiling as she let Kairi go, standing up once Kairi had rolled back onto the bed and dipping her head in a bow.

“Your Highness,” Umiko said. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

“I wanted – I could come back?” Riku glanced uncertainly between them. “I’ll come back.”

“Come in and sit down, Riku.” Kairi exchanged a smile with her grandmother and then patted the space beside her on the bed. “You’re so awkward it’s making me feel awkward!”

He chuckled weakly as he stepped aside to let Umiko out and then crossed the room to fill the space that Kairi had made for him. In the uncomfortable silence that followed, she tried not to watch him out of the corner of her eye, but it was hard. Riku didn’t seek her out anywhere near as much as she sought him out and certainly nowhere near as much as Sora sought them both out. She was never quite sure how things would go when they hung out alone together. Still, he was one of her best friends, and she knew how he tended to live inside his own head. It was up to her to try.

“So—”

“Are you all right?”

Kairi stopped short. “I—What?”

“Your eyes are kind of red. Were you crying?” Riku was frowning in concern, the way he did whenever he saw her or Sora get hurt. Big Brother Mode, Kairi called it, though it was rarely directed at her. Of course, she rarely tried to need it, and she could control her emotions a lot better than Sora could. “Is everything okay?”

“I—” Kairi instinctively wanted to shut down and pretend that everything was fine… but Riku was the prince. There were things she couldn’t tell her grandmother about her days because even Umiko’s security clearance wasn’t high enough to hear it, but Riku. Riku could hear it. Riku could help. “Master Yen Sid wants me to train Axel in how to wield his keyblade, and I barely know how to wield mine, and, on top of that, Axel hates me, so it’s like am I being punished here? And everyone’s too busy to help me, so how am I supposed to know how to help  _him_  and—”

“Okay, hey, whoa.” Riku was standing in front of her all of a sudden, his hands on her shoulders, his aquamarine eyes boring into hers. “Calm down. No one’s punishing you. I’m the one who said you should train Axel.”

“Wait, what?”

“I mean, I didn’t know he  _hated_  you. But, yeah, of course I told my mom it should be you.” He let her go, rubbing the back of his neck. “Did you see yourself during the crisis? Kairi, your training is going great. You got your keyblade later than anyone but Axel and you’re already wielding it like an expert. I don’t know how much of a role Yen Sid’s teaching played in that, but just going off having known you all these years? You are exactly as dedicated and hardworking and fierce a teacher as Axel needs. That’s the kind of person you’ve always been anyway.”

Kairi sternly told herself not to cry again. “Oh,” she managed. “Oh, Riku, that’s so nice.”

“But if he’s being  _mean_  to you…”

“No, no, nothing like that!” Kairi laughed. “And, trust me, if he was, I’d take care of him myself.” She made a fist and waved it menacingly. “There’d be nothing left for you to go all big brother on, trust me.”

“‘Go all big brother on’,” Riku echoed in amusement. “Is that what I do?”

“That’s definitely what you do. But like in a sweet way, not in an overbearing, patriarchal way.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

“You’re welcome.” Kairi smiled at him aimlessly for a long moment before she remembered. “Wait. Why are you here? Did you want something?”

“Sora wasn’t in his room, so I thought maybe you might know…” Riku trailed off, then sat back down next to her. “You know what? It’s not important. Tell me how your keyblade training is going. We were starting to think we’d never get to see you fight.”

He was trying, she realized. Even with the specter of their feelings for Sora always between them, he was  _trying_. Kairi had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from beaming at him, since she knew he would hate it if she drew attention to how much he had to know this meant to her. Instead, she nudged him with her shoulder affectionately. “And now you have. Are you dazzled?”

“Totally,” Riku drawled. “Still going to wipe the floor with you when you can spar with us, but totally.”

Kairi laughed, almost unable to believe that just a few minutes ago she’d been crying. “Yeah, sure. We’ll see.”

 

 

 

Riku left Kairi’s room an hour later, feeling more grounded than he had all day. She hadn’t known where Sora was, but it was nice to sit and talk for once without Sora coming up. Maybe he could do this after all. Let go. Move on. Be the friend to both of them that he should have been all along. Anything seemed possible, all of a sudden, and he wished he could find the words to thank Kairi for making it feel that way.

He set that aside when he finally found Sora jogging up the stairs from the direction of the Gummi Hangar. For now, Riku had to steel himself for what was to come. “Hey, you got a minute?”

“Always,” Sora said easily. “What’s up?”

“Not here.”

Of course, Riku didn’t actually know  _where_  he wanted to do this, so he just let his legs carry him until they arrived somewhere private. Next thing he knew, they had reached Sora’s room, which he supposed was as good a place as any. It had been years since he and Sora had willfully had sleepovers in each other’s rooms, but they stayed up late in one or the other often enough that Riku felt at ease here.

Sora felt the same, if the way he started rummaging through his closet was any indication. It took him seconds to unearth a box of star-shaped cookies, clearly stolen from the kitchen in defiance of Colette’s refusal to allow sweets before dinner.

“Thief,” Riku laughed. 

“Are you saying you don’t want one?” Sora asked as he crossed to the bed and threw himself down next to Riku. “Because it sounds like that’s what you’re saying, but—”

“Hand them over, brat.”

“Oh,  _of course_ , Your Highness.”

Riku ate the first two cookies to the soundtrack of Sora’s laughter. There was enough space between them that only their shoulders and knees brushed, and even then only sometimes. But Sora seemed so content to do nothing but sit there and eat cookies with him, as if just being around Riku was enough for him to be happy.

Moments like this gave Riku hope about his hopeless situation. Even if there could be no chance for that now.

It was that thought that finally unsealed his lips. “Sora...”

The boy looked up at Riku with his cheeks swollen with half-chewed cookies, his jaw dusted with crumbs. If Riku could have given himself a sarcastic look, he would have.  _This_  was who he was in love with. Honestly. It was a wonder that Sephiroth hadn’t judged him for his taste in men.

“Sora,” he continued. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to – well, to be honest, I wasn’t going to. But I need to. Tell you, I mean. It’s time.”

Sora blinked. “What?”

“It’s—” Riku brushed his bangs away from his face, releasing a low sigh. “It’s not easy for me to—”

“Are you dying?”

“What? No!”

Sora visibly relaxed enough to start shoving cookies into his mouth again. “Don’t  _scare_  me like that, Riku!”

And just like that, it all came out.

“Sora, I love you,” he blurted, railroading over his friend’s attempt to return the sentiment. “I’m  _in_  love with you. I’ve been in love with you for – fuck,  _years_  now, and I wanted to tell you so many times. But I didn’t want things to change. And I know how you feel about Kairi and I didn’t want you to worry about me. But things are changing now and I can’t – I can’t let them without you knowing. How I feel. I love you  _so much_ , Sora, it’s—”

Riku’s hands slammed against his mouth as if they could shove the words back in. Too much. He’d said too much. He dared a glance at Sora to see the younger boy staring at him in shock. His eyes were wider than ever, his lips were parted, and his tan cheeks were painted crimson. A crumb dropped from his face and hit the bed. Riku watched it fall as if in doing so he could avoid this horrifically awkward silence.

Sora made a sound, but it didn’t coalesce into a full word. Riku understood anyway. 

“Disney Castle needs the Cornerstone of Light to keep everyone safe, but its magic is fading. The only way to fix it permanently right now is to use the power of a Princess of Heart. That’s what the war council was about. Dad wants to visit their kingdoms and ask for aid.” Riku stared at the ceiling rather than at Sora. “He thinks it will work, but I know it won’t. They have their own worlds to look out for, and they have no reason to care about ours. I’m going to have to marry one of them. It’s the only way the princesses will care enough to sacrifice that much of their power toward protecting our people the way they do their own.”

Sora made another sound. 

“I’m not being pessimistic,” Riku insisted. “You and my parents want to look on the bright side, and that’s fine. But I’d rather prepare for the worst than be caught off guard with you when it ends up happening.” 

This time, Sora was silent. Riku looked at him again only to find the boy staring down at the bedspread, his eyebrows drawn together in what could have been confusion or could have been anguish. Riku hoped it was confusion. He’d never meant to make Sora upset.

“Riku,” Sora said at last, his voice barely above a whisper. “If you knew we couldn’t be together anyway, why even tell me this? What am I supposed to—?”

“I know you better than anyone.” Riku reached out to rest a hand on Sora’s shoulder, waiting until their gazes met to smile a rueful smile. “I know it’s always been Kairi for you. I just wanted to get this off my chest so I can give myself to one of the princesses with no regrets.” 

Sora’s cheeks were red again. “I—No, Kairi and I aren’t—”

“Of course you aren’t. You’re kind of an idiot sometimes, Sora. This stuff goes right over your spiky little head.”

“ _Hey_!”

“Look, I don’t mean to tell you how you feel,” Riku kept his smile together from sheer force of will, “But I think you really ought to look at the fact that you said ‘Kairi and I aren’t’ and not ‘I don’t feel that way about her.’”

Sora fell silence. Then he stuffed another cookie in his mouth and chomped on it like it had stolen munny from him. 

Unable to help a sudden burst of affection, Riku ruffled Sora’s hair. “Are we okay?”

“Of course we are. Always,” Sora said, words muffled by the cookie. “This is just a lot to... think about. And I guess I always thought...”

“What?”

“It sounds dumb now, but. I don’t know. I figured it would be you and Kairi? I mean, that you’d like  _her_. And why wouldn’t she like you? You’re both great, and I’m... well, kind of an idiot sometimes.” 

Riku tried to picture the world Sora had been living in all these years, in which _Riku_ and Kairi slowly fell in love. It would have to be slow, because sometimes, like today, they were all right and then other times conversations were stilted and hard to navigate around the mind field of their feelings for Sora. Kairi, he knew, thought he was intense and moody half the time, and she had trouble finding things to talk with him about. And Riku never knew what to do with her attention once he had it, except to be glad that, for the moment, Sora  _didn’t_ have it.

In love? No. He’d just be happy if they could have more conversations that made their bond stronger where it was weak from years of emotional constipation.

“The only one allowed to insult you is me,” Riku said, shoving Sora until he fell sideways onto the mattress. “I can’t speak for Kairi, but I couldn’t think of someone better to trust with my heart.” 

“Riku...” 

Blue eyes peeked out from the folds of the pillow Sora’s cheek was smushed into. For the first time, Riku had no idea what emotion was shining in them. Guilt? Sadness? Pity? Loss? He had seen all four on Sora’s face before, and none of them quite matched, but the suggestion of them was enough to get Riku on his feet. 

“I’m going to see how Umiko’s research is coming along,” he lied. “Make sure Colette doesn’t catch you with those cookies.” 

Sora stuck his tongue out at him and then turned his face away. Riku backed out of the room slowly, memorizing Sora in this moment in case this was the last time. The last time for what, he wasn’t sure. He just felt the sensation of some sort of cosmic door closing on the life he had known and the boy he had loved, and it was hard to let go. 

Out in the hallway, he finally let his face drop and his fist clench. The disappointment, the frustration, the heartbreak — all of it pumped through his blood now that Sora could no longer see and be burdened by it. He’d made his choice, and he had made it on his own terms. That had to be enough.

He lingered in the hallway until he could see without his vision blurring. Then the prince of Disney Castle went to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be posted on Sunday, March 31.


	3. Confusion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for the lovely comments and kudos! They kept me going while my computer was in the shop. 
> 
> Now, let's get back to our regularly scheduled program of Sora having a confusion spiral.

There should be a script for what to do, what to say, or how to act after your best friend admits that they’re in love with you.

Sora knew it happened often enough, but no one seemed eager to standardize the consequences. Instead, every day, he found himself thinking of a different way that he could have responded to what Riku had told him.

Though Sora _did_ cut himself some slack. Of all the things in the world he had expected Riku to want to tell him, that hadn’t even made the list. It seemed incredible, _ridiculous_ that Riku could be in love with him, of all people. That Riku could see _him_ as something that he was lacking or as something that he wanted so badly that it had begun to cause him more pain to hold it in than it would to ruin their friendship.

For as long as Sora had known Riku, he had been this bright, incredible thing — stronger, faster, smarter than Sora could ever be. He was like a star that Sora could never hope to catch and was thus lucky to have in his life at all. It seemed impossible that he lived in a world where Riku loved him more than he loved Riku.  

He swallowed past a sudden tightness in his throat. It seemed so impossible.

Sora looked up from his bowl of porridge with an eggs and bacon smiley face, his attention pulled by a sense he couldn’t name. Riku was crossing the dining hall, a stack of papers in his hand, a pensive wrinkle between his eyebrows. His frown deepened before he looked up, catching sight of Sora moments later. Surprise flashed across his face and then he smiled and Sora smiled back automatically, porridge still caked around his cheeks. 

He saw Riku laugh, a little, but Riku just kept walking until he disappeared behind the door that fed to the stairs.

Sora’s smile faded, his cheeks hot as he wiped them clean with a nearby napkin. That was the most he’d seen of Riku since the Confession, brief flashes by happenstance in the most random locations.

Because that was the other part of this, the most important part of this. Riku was getting _married_. 

The Organization and the Black Coats had been working overtime to hand deliver the king’s letters requesting aid to the Princesses of Heart, and many of the Princesses had been sympathetic to Disney Castle’s plight. But only one of them had been able to make the trip right away: twenty-year-old Anna of Arendelle, who had traveled on Sora’s gummi ship with a giant snowman named Marshmallow as her guard. The instant that Anna had set foot on the ground, the entire world had seemed to glow like she had _swallowed_ the Cornerstone of Light. She knew exactly where it was without being led, and, in her presence, there was nothing wrong with it for her to fix. The closer she got, the fiercer it shined. 

It had been incredible – but a problem. Because if she couldn’t find anything wrong with it, she couldn’t fix it so that it kept shining when she was gone. At least Princess Anna had been able to stay for a little while so Umiko and Donald could try any of the dozens of spells they’d researched to store some of her light magic in the Cornerstone – though, so far, nothing had worked.

A few days later, Master Yen Sid and Merlin had come to Disney Castle for the first time in ages to help, also to no avail. But they could at least propose a theory on the phenomenon, in a war council meeting that Sora had begged Riku to tell him about afterward: alone, a Princesses of Heart’s light magic worked best on someone or something they had a personal connection to. Add in an item as infinitely complex as the Cornerstone, and it was nearly impossible for a Princess to distill their immense power into it without overloading it – no matter how much each of them genuinely wanted to help.

It had been Anna, Riku said, who had suggested that they develop the type of personal connection that fairy tales were made of. The type that could put Disney Castle under her heart’s protection without taking _all_ the time that the world might not have.

“Not literally with me, of course!” she’d babbled. Princess Anna, they had learned very quickly, was a babbler. “I’m kind of seeing someone. Well, not kind of. We’ve been together for two years. So, it’s pretty serious. But my sister! You know, the Queen? She’s one of these Princesses, right? And I happen to know that she’s _single_. So, you know. There’s that!” 

It was a good thing that Riku had not only seen this coming but had been preparing for it all this time.

From what Sora had heard, Riku’s only real response to Anna's suggestion had been to make a note to update his files to reflect the fact that Elsa was a Queen in her world and not a princess, so that he could continue planning with the most up-to-date information. In return, Anna had agreed to head home to get enough supplies to extend her stay in Disney Castle, thus keeping the Cornerstone from failing until the other Princesses could arrive.

And that was why Sora never saw Riku anymore. Riku had an engagement ball to plan in earnest, and Sora... he’d made his choice. At the very least, he hadn’t chosen Riku.

 _Stop moping like you’re the one who got your heart broken_ , he snapped at himself _._  And yet it felt like his thoughts were all trapped together like flies, with Riku’s confession as the flypaper they were stuck in.

“Kill meeeee,” Kairi whined as she dropped down across from him. “I haven’t slept in days.”

Sora’s very soul seemed to come alive at the sight of her. If Riku was a star, then Kairi was like the blanket he’d wrap up with under the night sky. He had always associated her with warmth and comfort and safety, and he hadn’t realized how deep into his sadness he’d managed to slide until her smile pulled him back out. Was that why Riku thought he _loved_ her...? 

Kairi waved a hand in front of his face. “Sora? Are you all right?” 

He _really_ needed to get it together. “Yes. Yeah. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something…”

“Okaaaay. Can I grab some food first or is this—?”

“No, no, go ahead. It can wait.”

She eyed him for a moment to be sure and then got up. Sora almost swayed from the relief of having a few more minutes to get his thoughts together. He wasn’t even sure what he wanted here. Should he talk to Kairi about Riku’s confession? Should he talk to her about Riku’s _assumption_ that Sora was into her? _Was_ Sora into her? How was he even supposed to know?

It wasn’t that Sora was disinterested in love. Or even that he was disinterested in _Kairi_ , really. He’d just had other things on his mind. Cid had once called him a late bloomer, because he and Chip and Dale had been teasing Sora about Kairi for _years_ before Sora had noticed that Kairi _was_ kind of pretty. Well, he’d always known she was pretty in that abstract way that one could tell a human being looked different from another human being. But then, as they inched toward twenty, that fact had become striking. 

Even so, Sora had never really wanted to ask _anybody_ out before. Who would he have even asked? The only people his own age – and, well, species – that he spent _that_ much time with were Riku and Kairi, and they were his best friends. He’d assumed they would date each other, eventually.

Now that he thought about it, it had been _Riku_ who had leaned over to him one day when Sora was fourteen and said, “Hey, Kairi’s kind of gorgeous, isn’t she?”

And Sora, whose brain had shorted out a little bit, had said, “Kind of?” Because they had been _in the middle of a sparring match_ when Riku had slammed him on his back and started talking about girls, of all things. But Riku hadn’t said anything and hadn’t let him up, so he’d sputtered, “I – Yeah?”

Riku had moved to let him breathe and, when Sora had sat up, Riku was over by Kairi bragging about how that was 14 to 0. Kairi had started giggling and Sora had been left feeling weirdly mortified, like he’d lost a lot more than a sparring match all of a sudden. 

So, yeah, it had seemed like it would only be a matter of time until he’d lose both of his friends to each other. It was still hard to believe he was wrong.

Kairi sat back down across from him with a plate of pancakes and sausage. “So, what’s up?” 

“Um.” Sora’s mind blanked and his tongue moved without his approval. “How’s your day going?”

“Oh, pretty good. Master Yen Sid’s having me take on some… new responsibilities, so that’s cool.” Something about the way Kairi said that made Sora look at her, curious. There was a glint in her eyes that usually meant trouble for someone, but nothing she had said had warranted that.

He narrowed his eyes. “Do I even want to know?”

“I couldn’t tell you, even if you did,” Kairi said serenely. “Let’s just say revenge tastes better than this food and leave it at that.”

Yeah, he definitely didn’t want to know.

His tongue practically clung to the roof of his mouth any time he tried to get anything out that wasn’t small talk unrelated to the whole Riku-being-in-love-with-him-but-believing-that-Sora-loved-Kairi thing. And Kairi seemed perfectly happy to make small talk with him as they worked their way through their breakfast. Eventually, Sora just decided to let it go. If he wasn’t ready to talk to someone else about this, then he wasn’t ready, and he shouldn’t do anything drastic until he’d made up his mind.

He ignored the tiny voice that whispered _excuses, excuses_ and shoved a forkful of egg into his mouth. He’d worry about it all later.

 

 

“Son,” Mickey said from the doorway of the council room. “Can we talk?”

Riku didn’t want to turn around, but he knew it wouldn’t be fair of him not to. Talking hadn’t been high on his to do list since Sora had rejected him, but he had gone too far in the opposite direction if his father was here. Then he turned around to see that _both_ his parents were there, watching him with big eyes full of concern, and his stomach twisted with guilt. 

“Yeah, of course,” he said, waving them in. He’d turned the table into a mess of papers and maps, so he tried to shuffle them into some kind of order to have something to do with his hands. Behind him, he heard the door click closed. “What’s up?”

“Riku, you don’t have to do this,” Minnie said. “You know that right? We will find another way.”

“We’ve tried other ways already. The Cornerstone might not last long enough for us to try more. This is the fastest way, mom, you know that.” 

Mickey jumped up on the table so that he and Riku were at eye level. As always, he wasn’t wearing his crown. People thought he did it as an equalizer, to make himself seem no better than them, but Riku knew better. Like him, Mickey never forgot that he hadn’t been born into royalty.

“Fast doesn’t mean best,” his father said. “Yen Sid taught me that, and I taught it to you. So what is this _really_ about?”

Riku didn’t say anything for a moment. He didn’t want to. He felt like his father could read it all over his face anyway, and he could feel his cheeks heating up at the shameful thought.

Mickey just smiled. There was a pause during which he reached down to help Minnie onto the table — with Riku spotting her to make sure she got up safely — and then he gestured toward the nearest chair. Riku sat down, and Mickey and Minnie sat on the edge of the table, having an entire conversation in a glance while he pretended not to notice. 

Eventually, Mickey clasped his gloved hands together and said, “Do you remember how you came to live here with us?”

Riku blinked. “Not... really.” 

He remembered his past in flashes. Palm trees swaying in the breeze. Crystal blue ocean as far as the eye could see. Wooden swords and tiny rowboats. Hidden caves and wiggling fish. The white sands of Destiny Islands, a ghost of a place haunted by the impression of people whose faces he could barely remember. Except bright blue eyes and a gap toothed smile. Except Sora.

“We found you when you were eight,” Mickey said in that way that meant that Riku might as well settle in, because a story was coming. “Destiny Islands had been on the cusp of falling for a while, and at that point there was nothing more we could do to stop it. It was mostly reconnaissance, trying to save anyone we could find. Tidus. Wakka. Selphie. You.” 

“You didn’t find me first?” 

For some reason, this made Minnie laugh. Even Mickey was grinning as he said, “We almost found you _last._ I remember it so clearly. There I was, leading the Black Coats, and we found you on this island-off-the-island, just glaring at this ball of darkness in the sky waiting to swallow your home whole. And you heard us coming and the first thing you ever said to me was, ‘what are you doing here?’ Like we were _intruding_.” 

Riku smiled.

“I told you my name and then asked you yours and then I told you the island was dying and you had to come with me. And,” Mickey’s face sobered, “You refused. You said you couldn’t leave the island without someone very precious to you and then you ran off before we could stop you. Destiny Islands could have been destroyed any second, and you didn’t care. You wouldn’t leave until you were both safe.” 

“Sora,” Minnie confirmed before Riku could even let the truth seep into his bones. “You wouldn’t leave the island without Sora. Leon had to knock you out and drag you to the ship. And you threw _quite_ the tantrum when you woke up here, let me tell you!”

“You ever wonder why Cid never wants you in the Gummi Hangar? Because you tried to steal a ship to get back to your world.” This sent Minnie into a fresh fit of laughter. Mickey shook his head. “Eight years old, no idea how to even fly one, and you were going to kill yourself trying. Cid brought you to me and you said you had made a promise to always be there for Sora, to protect this person who mattered to you. So I made you a promise too: if you stayed here, we would find him for you. But I had promises of my own to keep, promises to keep the people of this world safe. So if I was going to promise to find your Sora, then...”

“I promised to stay and care for your people?” Riku tried. 

“We named you heir,” Minnie said. “Not because we found you first, or even because you behaved the best. We named you heir because you are brave and true and when you love, it’s with even the darkest corners of your heart.”

“And we named you heir knowing that, when all was said and done, you loved Sora more than anything in this world. Even your own life.” Mickey finished. “So I really hope you don’t think that you have to arrange a marriage for yourself to make us happy. You’ve never once made us sad.” 

His father’s words sank into his mind and stayed there simmering. “It’s not that,” he admitted, looking down at the table. “It’s not you. I know you love me, I know you see me as your son, and I don’t have any memories of any parents but you. But it’s... not enough to just be your son. I’m also the prince. I _can’t_ put Sora above this world anymore. Especially when he wouldn’t want me to. It’s time I accept that and accept my role.” 

“Honey,” Minnie asked, tilting his chin up. “Did something happen between you and Sora?”

Riku couldn’t meet his mother’s eyes. “I’d already decided to do this by then but — yeah. I told him.” 

“And...?”

Was she making fun of him? “And he’s in love with Kairi. We’ve always known that.”

“Have we?” Mickey asked, sounding genuinely surprised. “Since when?”

“Since always.” Riku made a face, drawing back from his mother’s hands. “Anyway, I’m finally in a place where I’m okay with that. Are you really going to try and talk me out of it?”

His parents exchanged glances. “Well, no,” Mickey began slowly. “But...”

“But?”

“But sometimes I wonder if you know Sora as well as you think you do. That’s all.” 

Riku snorted, though not because it was impossible. After all, he remembered from his early teens how he could let his own biases color his interpretation of Sora’s actions. But his parents’ reasoning had no place in this situation. Sora didn’t love him — and even if he did, that couldn’t matter anymore.

It was past time for Riku to move on.

 

 

Kairi only realized how far overboard she had gone for their first official class when Axel said, “What in the—?”

She smoothed down the pages of her lesson plan, hating how warm her cheeks felt. Blushing was hardly the way to be taken seriously as a teacher to a guy who towered over her in height. Axel’s eyebrows were lifted, his upside down teardrop tattoos more pronounced when he was judging her. Kairi cleared her throat.

“Did you think I was just going to make you run up stairs all the time?” she asked. “We’ve got real work to do.”

Axel grumbled. “How was running up the stairs _not_ real work? My thighs are killing me.”

Kairi could actually see them, for once, because Axel wasn’t wearing his coat. He’d traded it in for tight black jeans and a loose red plaid shirt almost long enough to be a dress. Over that, he was wearing a sleeveless black hoodie vest, as long as the shirt, and peeking out from under both top materials was a short-sleeved gray muscle shirt. It was more of his actual body than Kairi had ever seen. Something about those coats gave the impression of androgyny; out of it, Axel was undeniably masculine.

“My eyes are up here, Red.”

Kairi’s gaze snapped upward, her cheeks heating again. “‘Red’? My _name_ is Kairi!”

Axel scratched the back of his head. “Sorry. I was just—”

“And your hair is way redder than mine, so if anyone around here is ‘Red’, it’s _you_!”

She saw the moment Axel realized she was joking, the way his face melted in relief, and she felt guilty for all of five seconds before he started laughing. “All right, I definitely had that coming.”

“You definitely did,” she said loftily. “Insult my lesson plan again, Red. I dare you.”

Kairi wondered if Axel realized this was the longest conversation they had ever had. Being alone in a room that only magically existed, in a world far away from anyone he might use as a buffer, was all it had taken for him to finally see her. She didn’t know whether to laugh or kick him in the shin.

Instead, she walked over to Yen Sid’s desk and placed her lesson plan on top of it. Behind her, he was still and silent, and she refused to let him undo all of her hard work dispelling the awkwardness in his room.

“‘Keyblades,’” she recited into the quiet, “‘Choose their wielders, and they are always people who posses a particularly strong heart. Therefore, the power of a keyblade is in its connection to its wielder’s heart, and the weapon is a manifestation of that heart. To know the keyblade’s power, one must know one’s own heart, the light, the darkness, and the realm between.’”

“Pretty,” Axel drawled. “What’s it supposed to mean?”

“Yeah, I didn’t get it at first either. But,” Kairi tapped a finger against her chin thoughtfully, trying to come up with the right words. “Basically, the ability to summon a keyblade comes from our hearts. In a way, our keyblades _are_ our hearts manifested. So for me to figure out the best way to teach you, I need to know your heart, and then I’ll know where your power comes from. And then I can help it grow.”

“Okay…” Axel drifted over to the desk. He leaned his hip against it, gazing down at her lesson plan with his muscular arms folded. “How do we do that?”

“Well… Master Yen Sid started by having me talk about my childhood? Even though it was painful at first, it’s a part of who I am.” She pressed a hand over her chest. “And that world and those people will always be a part of my heart. Because of that, I wield my keyblade in part for them.”

“My childhood wasn’t that interesting.” But there was a smile playing about Axel’s lips that suggested just the opposite. “I grew up in Radiant Garden, before it fell. And then I spent some time after that just wandering the worlds until I ended up here.”

Kairi’s eyes snapped to his. “Wait. You — What?”

All Axel did was shrug, but she felt like he’d yanked the carpet right out from under her. She hadn’t known. She hadn’t spoken to Axel nearly often enough to know that they’d both come to Disney Castle from the _same world_.

Though he seemed casual, his broad shoulders were tense and he wasn’t quite meeting her eyes anymore. “Yeah, me and Saïx both. You know that guy in the Organization with the blue hair and the constipated expression? We’re from Radiant Garden. We were friends when we were younger, actually.”

He might as well have told her that he’d been a Moogle in a past life for how utterly floored she was. When she and her grandmother had made it out of Radiant Garden, Kairi had been almost too young to remember, but certain things clung to her mind and tripped her up when she was least expecting them. The way people in the Gardens had been consumed by heartless, their bodies imploding and their hearts floating away to leave only shadows beneath. The fear on Umiko’s face as she had scooped Kairi up and run for the Central Square, knowing there was nowhere they could go but desperate to survive anyway. The bruised flower that she had clung to, her last relic of a dying world, the petals still pressed between the pages of a journal in her room. 

Her strongest memory after that was meeting Sora on Destiny Islands, the boy who became the North Star that would eventually lead her out of the darkness that her grief had plunged her into. But though their mourning songs had similar notes, they did not quite sync up. He had never seen Radiant Garden, its sea of flowers, its building spires reaching for the sky, its cobblestone streets, its loud but sparkling Fountain Court. He couldn’t _understand_ , not the way her grandmother did.

Not the way Axel could.

“You’re,” Kairi’s voice gave out under the weight of the conflicting feelings racing through her. She licked her lips and tried again. “I can’t believe we never met before we came here. I was always running around—”

“Actually, we did.”

“What?”

“We met once before. You were really young, though, so you probably don’t remember it. Although I wasn’t much older than you and _I_ managed to get it memorized…”

Kairi’s mind drew a blank, and the more she tried to force a memory of what Axel might have looked like in the past, the more she succeeded only in giving herself a headache. He still wasn’t looking at her, so she walked around to his side of the desk and chased his eyes until they met hers.

“Is that,” she asked with a wry smile, “Why you hate me?”

Axel stared at her for a moment that stretched so long she thought he was going to deny it. Then he sighed. “No.”

Though she had long suspected it, Kairi felt a flare of hurt at the confirmation that he did have a problem with her. _Just keep smiling,_ she told herself. Even if it was painful, even if it was weak around the edges, her smile held.

“No? Then why?”

Axel shook his head, sliding out from between her and the desk to turn his back to her. “I thought we came here to teach me to wield a keyblade.”

“But—”

“If you’re just gonna waste my time then I may as well leave.”

“ _Axel_.”

“What?” He whirled around, and his face was more remote than it had ever been. “ _What_ , Kairi?”

Her fists clenched at her sides. “There are still at least twenty minutes left in the lesson, so get the hell back over here. Whatever _this_ is,” She pointed a finger between them. “I’m not going to let it ruin my first time teaching, and I’m not going to let you disrespect me. Hate me all you want on your own time, but this is our time. This is _my_ time. Do I make myself clear?”

Axel smiled, slow as a sunset, his eyes big and dark. “Yeah, princess. Very clear.”

Something in the way he said it sent a shiver down her spine. It didn’t feel like he was mocking her, exactly. It felt like… Like…

Kairi shook the half-formed thought from her head with pink cheeks and tapped the pages of her lesson plan. “Good. Now remind me what the connection is between keyblades and hearts, so I can see if you learned anything today. Besides how to be a jerk.”

 

 

Leon had the afternoon gloriously off so he spent it the best way he knew how. Cloud’s eyes seemed to glow blue, dewdrops of sweat crowning his brow. Leon’s scent was all over him, as much a brand as the marks Leon had left all over him. They would get stuck to the sheets if they didn’t clean up soon, but Leon couldn’t stop touching Cloud’s broad expanse of golden skin and thinking about how lucky he was.

“What?” Cloud asked, lifting an eyebrow. It was more expression than he ever would have shown a decade ago, and it warmed Leon all over to see it. 

“Nothing,” he responded. “Just love you.” 

Cloud wrinkled his nose. “Sap.”

“If you got to be in bed with you, you’d want to compose epics about it, too.”

“Oh my _god_ ,” Cloud laughed. And then he added, with a small smile of his own, “I missed you, you know? Missed this. I’ve missed this a _lot_ lately.”

Leon reached forward to trace the lines of Cloud’s face with loving fingers. Words caught in the back of his throat as images of the last few months without Cloud and Sora played in an endless loop in his mind. Leon had never had much in the way of family, but the one he’d built with his brother and his lover was so integral to his sense of self now that he had no idea what he’d do without it. Sometimes, his heart still felt the phantom pangs of longing from when Cloud had still been with Sephiroth, when the very idea of he and Leon being anything more than friends had been laughable at best and a pathetic delusion at worst. But now...

Cloud tilted his face into Leon’s touch, his smile getting a little bigger. “What are you and Sora having for dinner today?”

“No clue. He’s banned me from even looking at someone who works in the kitchen and might tell me what he’s up to.”

Something in Cloud’s expression changed, but Leon couldn’t read exactly how or what it meant. He opened his mouth to ask, but before he could Cloud said simply: “It’s adorable that you two have these family meals. You take such good care of him.”

“Now who’s being a sap?” Leon asked, but the compliment settled something in him anyway. Quitting the Black Coats to raise Sora at twenty-four had been both the easiest and hardest choice he’d ever made. Sometimes, he still had nightmares about finding out that Cloud had been killed by a heartless because Leon hadn’t been there to watch his back — as though Zack, Tifa, and Sephiroth weren’t here to do it for him.

But when he saw Sora smiling at a new friend or running through the hallways with the prince and Kairi, when he saw Sora sparring with Donald and Goofy or grumbling his way through his book studies, when he saw the kind-hearted man that Sora had grown into despite what he’d gone through, well. Leon had no regrets at all.

There was a knock on the door.

“Captain, are you in there?” It was Aerith, which meant it was probably an emergency. “We’ve had a... development.”

Cloud sat up in bed so quickly that he looked like a puzzled gopher. The sheet was thrown off and his pants, dangling off of the lamp, were yanked on. Leon hid his groan in the pillow. He, of all people, did not get to complain about anyone prioritizing their work over their personal time. But as a consolation prize, he focused on Cloud getting dressed as if he would be asked to sketch a picture of it later, right down to the disappearing freckles on Cloud’s hip.

“I’ll send word if it’s an offworld development,” Cloud said, fully dressed now, leaning over the bed to give Leon a last, lingering kiss. “I’ll see you.”

He didn’t say later and he didn’t say around. He just disappeared through the door, joining Aerith, who was grinning cheekily at Leon’s bare form. As the door clicked shut, Leon sighed at how dark and empty the room felt now when just a moment ago it had felt like a whole world-within-the-world, one that belonged to just him and Cloud.

He really was a sap.

A sap with the rest of the afternoon off. 

Leon curled further onto the sheets and closed his eyes. He might as well catch up on four months of sleep.

 

 

Sephiroth was the only other person present when Aerith brought Cloud into one of the empty meeting rooms on the second floor. He took a seat at the end of the table, closer to the empty chair that Aerith eased into than to Sephiroth, but his eyes were drawn to the latter anyway. Sephiroth was already watching him, as usual, and Cloud couldn’t hold that against him.

After all, fifteen years and he still knew the faint shadows beneath Sephiroth’s blazing green eyes meant he hadn’t slept last night. Fifteen years and he still cared enough to know those things, even if he’d been the one to walk away.

“Report,” he said, shutting the door on his memories.

Sephiroth sat up straighter. “We’ve found a lead on how Maleficent might be getting in and out of Disney Castle. Do you know of the former steamboat captain, Pete?”

“No.” Cloud’s brow furrowed as he tried to place the name. There was a spark of recognition, but it didn’t develop into enough of a light for him to follow it.

“Captain Pete owned the steamboat that the king once worked on as a deckhand.” Sephiroth placed a packet of papers on the table as he spoke, sliding them over until Cloud could reach them. It was a dossier on Pete, including pictures of the cat from various stages of his life. “After that, he became the captain of Princess Minnie’s Royal Musketeers, until he tried to overthrow her. He was subsequently banished to the Lanes Between, and the Royal Musketeers were disbanded until the king and queen reopened them under the name of the Royal Guard.”

The dossier reflected that, but that was where it stopped. “And you’ve found evidence that he’s been working with Maleficent?”

“Evidence in the form of witness testimony. Several people have said that Pete appeared in their worlds before they fell into darkness, recruiting heartless for an army that he’s building for Maleficent.” This time it was a notebook that Sephiroth set on the table, full of his elegantly scrawled notes from the testimony of what seemed to be over fifty people. “Many of them didn’t know his name, or Maleficent’s, but when I showed them pictures and started asking more pointed questions, this all started to come out.”

Cloud frowned down at the notebook and the dossier, eyes narrowing at the smirking face of Pete. He seemed like a harmless buffoon, and he certainly wasn’t considered a high-security threat or Cloud would have recognized his name the instant he’d heard it. Why Pete wasn’t considered a high-security threat if he’d once tried to overthrow the queen was a question for the next war council, Cloud supposed.

“So, Maleficent is building an army with help from the former captain Pete,” he said with a pensive hum. “Would that explain why she’s targeting the Cornerstone and Disney Castle? She’s helping Pete with his failed coup? Giving him this world to ensure his loyalty when it comes to the work of taking over her own?”

“Well, Maleficent _has_ declared herself the Mistress of all Evil,” said Aerith. “It could be that in her quest to rule over the darkness of all worlds, she’s starting her next attempt with this one because it’s the easier target. If she could get rid of Princess Aurora and plunge the Enchanted Dominion into darkness, surely she would have done so already.”

Cloud slid the notebook into the dossier and closed it. “This is great work, Sephiroth. I’ll bring this to Leon tomorrow and we’ll see if finding Pete is easier than finding Maleficent.”

“Tomorrow?” Sephiroth asked with one silver eyebrow arched. “Why wait until tomorrow?”

It was Aerith who answered: “Leon has the afternoon off for dinner with Sora.”

“Ah.”

There was something so judgmental in that single word that Cloud’s hackles rose. He had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from snapping at Sephiroth, because he knew it wouldn’t be fair. Before they had been boyfriends, he and Sephiroth had been friends; and both had happened during such formative years in their lives that there was no separating one from the other. And he knew Sephiroth still didn’t like Leon. Sometimes it was because he continued to believed Cloud had left Sephiroth for Leon, even though it had taken four years after the break-up for Cloud and Leon to actually start dating. Other times, it was because Sephiroth didn’t think that Leon treated Cloud the way he was meant to be treated.

Sometimes, privately, Cloud agreed with him.

But at least Leon gave him the _space_ to have his own opinions. Space that Cloud had asked for. Space that Sephiroth had never once allowed him to have.

“Tomorrow, then,” Sephiroth said when it was clear that Cloud wasn’t going to speak. “Meanwhile, I’ll start checking around his known haunts. Maybe someone has seen or heard something that will solidify this theory.”

“Great.” Cloud stood up and swept out of the room without dismissing either of them. It was unprofessional, he knew, but the alternative – getting into a fight with his ex in front of Aerith – would have been worse.

Almost immediately he heard the sound of footsteps behind him and sighed, loudly, without turning around. Instead, he kept going until he found another empty room, bare except for a red tapestry with a black and gold Mickey symbol. Only then did he face Sephiroth, who was closing and locking the door behind them.

“What?” Cloud asked mulishly. “If this is about Leon again—”

“I didn’t come to fight.” Sephiroth tossed his hair to get his long silver bangs out of his face, though they fell back a moment later anyway. It made him look arrogant, but Cloud knew he only did that when he was nervous. Another of those little facts that didn’t fall out of your mind just because you’d pushed someone out of your heart. “I just wanted to talk. About my vacation time.”

“You locked the door to talk about vacation time?”

“Or dietary habits. Or training schedule. Or whatever you’d like,” Sephiroth sighed. “I just want to talk.”

Cloud went still. Sephiroth’s face was wiped clean of emotion, which was when he was at his most emotional. He was genuine, and that felt like a revelation. Though they had spoken much over the years, Sephiroth hadn’t been interested in actually _talking_ to Cloud. At best, he condescended to Cloud, about his relationship and his choices and the factors that had led to their breakup – which, of course, weren’t Sephiroth’s fault.

Some of the armor that guarded his heart when Sephiroth was in the room fell away. “Why now? If this is another manipulation—”

“I had a talk with the prince recently that reminded me of some things. There’s always more to lose.” Sephiroth’s gaze met his steadily. “I thought I lost everything when you left me, but our friendship… I don’t have to lose that. Do I?”

It took Cloud a long time to answer. “No, you don’t. Not yet. Unlock the door.”

He was gratified when Sephiroth gave him a smile and did so immediately. But not so gratified that he didn’t pause in the doorway.

“But if this is another trick or a long con to get me to come back to you,” Cloud said fiercely, “Then that’s it, Sephiroth. We’re done. For good. Understand?”

Sephiroth’s smile turned wan. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you, captain.”

 

 

“…and then he said he’s in love with me,” Sora finished with a gusto. “It’s _so_ confusing.”

Dinner had turned out to be the kind of island food that Sora probably remembered from his youth, giant steamed fishes stuffed with spinach and accentuated by little potatoes, buttered corn on the cob, and melon juice. Leon had also taken the time to mix some potion into Sora’s juice, because his brother was still bruised from his keyblade training with Master Aqua. Sora's cup was still mostly full, however, because he'd barely sat down before bursting into a story about the prince's love confession like he was going to explode if he held it in for one more second.

Prince Riku had _actually_ confessed. That was the real surprise. Leon had been starting to think that the prince didn't have it in him.

“Do you feel the same way about him?” he asked, chasing a potato through the sauce on his plate.   
  
“I… It’s not… Everyone says—”  
  
“I didn’t ask you what everyone says. What do _you_ say?”   
  
Sora looked like Leon had asked him to do long division with imaginary numbers. His fork paused halfway to his mouth, his face screwed up in concentration. After a moment, he admitted, “I’ve never thought about Riku like that.”   
  
Personally, even if Sora did have feelings for Riku, Leon saw no point the younger boy in acknowledging that right now. He had no idea why the prince would come forward with his feelings now, when everyone in the castle knew that Riku was going to marry, and his potential brides would be arriving some time next month. No matter how he felt about Sora, Riku was hardly going to back out of something he had planned — something that could be the only way to save the world from dying.   
  
Leon’s hand tightened around his own fork. He couldn’t believe it had come to this, that he hadn’t seen the signs. When he had lost Radiant Garden and made Disney Castle his home, he had changed his name in penance and then sworn that he would never see another world he called his own swallowed by the darkness. All those sleepless nights and disappointing days, all the memories with Cloud and Sora that he lost to work, all his efforts to monitor every part of this world and others... it was a bitter pill to swallow that it didn’t matter at all. This world would survive or die based entirely on the prince’s choices now, on the prince’s ability to charm someone other than Sora into thinking he sweat perfume.

Leon was useless. His _work_ was useless.  
  
“I guess,” Sora finally continued, “I’m just having a hard time wrapping my head around this. What it could mean. What it could have meant. It’s not exactly simple, is it? What would we have done? Just... date? He’s the prince! I would have had to hope we broke up because otherwise I would be... I could’ve been... And I — _No_. I’d be a horrible king, Leon! I can barely even do my own laundry!”  
  
An exaggeration, but Leon allowed it.   
  
“And it’s not like I could have asked him to give up the throne for me or whatever. This isn’t a romance novel. The king and queen only have one heir and, anyway, Riku loves being the prince. He’s _good_ at it. He takes everything so seriously. Sure, his people skills could be better… but he’s a _leader_. They’ll love him as much as they love King Mickey and Queen Minnie one day, I know it. How could anyone _not_ love Riku?”  
  
“Sora,” Leon said, taking a long sip of juice. “It’s really starting to sound like you _have_ thought about this before.”   
  
The boy laughed sheepishly. “Anyway, my point is that being with Riku would never have been just about _being with Riku_. You’re dating a whole country! And—”  
  
“Do you even _like_ men?”   
  
“Love is love, Leon.” Sora waves a hand dismissively. “I’ve never liked anyone, so how would…?”  
  
Leon sighed, glancing up at the vaulted ceiling as he regretted every life choice that led him to this question. “Could you see yourself being... intimate with Riku?”  
  
The mortified silence that followed couldn’t decide which one of them was more embarrassed to be sitting at this table right now. Leon didn’t take his eyes off the ceiling, but he could easily imagine Sora’s open-mouthed horror at having to discuss his sexual preferences with the man who had raised him. Honestly, Leon hoped he didn’t answer the question. But the longer the silence went on, the clearer it became that he had to be the one to move this conversation forward.  
  
Leon cleared his throat, put them both out of their misery. “So you at least find Riku attractive.”   
  
“Please let me die here,” Sora said pleasantly before banging his head against the table. “Please.” _Thunk_. “Please.” _Thunk_. “ _Please_.” _Thunk, thunk, thunk._  
  
“That,” Leon drawled, “Would solve your problem, too. In a manner of speaking.”  
  
“Did you know?” the boy muttered.  
  
“That you’re attracted to Riku?”  
  
“That Riku was in love with me!”  
  
“Well, I’m the royal spymaster, so... yes.” Leon lifted an eyebrow. “Actually even if I wasn’t, yes. I knew. _Everyone_ knows. Everyone knew except you.”   
  
Sora sat up abruptly. “Does _Kairi_ know?!”   
  
“Sora. _Everyone_.”   
  
“ _How?!_ ”  
  
Leon sighed. “Look, kid. You’re starting to confuse _me_ now. You’ve never cared about Riku being the prince before, and you’re not the big disaster you’re trying to convince me that you are. So what’s the real problem?”  
  
“Not a kid,” Sora muttered, eyes downcast. “But yeah… you have a point. I just... I don’t know. When people made me think about that kind of stuff, it was always Kairi I saw it with. That’s how it’s meant to be, isn’t it? If Riku hadn’t said something, I never would have known that was even… an option.” 

“‘Meant to be’ is what you make of it, Sora. Don’t burden yourself with other people’s expectations. Just look at what’s in your heart.”

There was a long silence, during which Sora’s face went pink and then red and then a deep mauve. Leon didn’t even _want_ to know what he was thinking about. He went back to his meal instead, reducing his fish down to just the bones by the time Sora seemed to rise out of the quagmire of his own mind long enough to blow out a sigh.

“Well! It doesn’t matter what's in my heart. Riku’s getting married. So. There’s no point in thinking about this.” 

It was a conclusion that he should have come to a week or so ago, but Leon wasn’t going to hold it against him. He waited long enough to be sure that Sora wasn’t about to say anything else, then decided to bring up his own news. “Speaking of marriage...” 

In response to Sora’s curious head tilt, he took a small box out of his pocket and set it on the table. Sora’s high-pitched squeal would have made the mice at the Castle of Dreams jealous.   
  
“Oh my god,” Leon grumbled, his cheeks heating up. “Don’t—”  
  
Sora squealed louder. “This is the happiest day of my life!”  
  
“It’s not even _for_ you.”  
  
“I love Cloud so much! You’re so good together! You’re going to look amazing in your suits! I just—” Actual tears raced down Sora’s cheeks as he buried his face in his hands and blubbered something about true love. Leon huffed, but he was fighting a smile. There had been no chance that Sora wouldn’t approve of anything that made Leon as happy as Cloud did, but he liked to think Sora’s reaction boded well for how Cloud would react.   
  
“How long have you had that?” Sora asked when he managed to get control of himself, though the words were not without sniffling. “Why didn’t you take me with you to buy it?”   
  
“I didn’t buy it. This was my father’s ring. It’s one of the few things I have left from him.” Leon turned the box around so that he could look at the ring, a silver band with the lion engraving that symbolized his family. “I wasn’t exactly planning to give it away, but...” He lifted his gaze to meet Sora’s watery one. “Cloud’s it, for me. I’m surer of that than I’ve been of anything in my life.”  
  
Sora burst into tears again and practically threw himself across the table to hug Leon. And Leon allowed it, laughing, because his brother was ridiculous and this situation was ridiculous and if he didn’t laugh he might cry too. He was just so happy.  
  
“He’s going to love it,” Sora declared. “He _loves_ you.”   
  
“I know,” said Leon. “Now get off me and finish your dinner. You’re looking a little scrawny there, island boy.”  
  
Sora grumbled something that Leon pretended not to hear but he was still smiling as he rounded the table to take his seat. Leon slid the ring back into his pocket and went back to his dinner, already imagining the many, many ways he could eventually slip it onto Cloud’s finger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you next Sunday.


	4. Connected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to Rihanna, because I totally stole the name of her charity party for this fic.

Sora had really underestimated how much work went into being a prince. He wasn’t sure if that was because Riku made everything look really easy or if it was because Riku was rarely ever _Prince Riku_ around him, but he was getting quite an education now.

The engagement ball had been officially named the Diamond Ball by Queen Minnie, lending it a more romantic air and reinforcing the fact that it would end with a ring on someone’s finger. Riku had cared less about names and more about the details, and there were _so many_ details. The ball would be a three-day affair, with a group dinner on the first night, a town outing and a masquerade on the second night, and then a long breakfast at which Riku was expected to name a bride before all of the Princesses returned home. It was an extended version of what they did in the Castle of Dreams, and it was an absolute nightmare to plan.

In just the time that Sora had been sitting with him, he’d watched Riku make decisions on a number of seemingly random things that could somehow blow up into a political scandal if done wrong. Where the princesses would sleep. Who would sit where at dinner. What the town outing should be. How to balance all of their various security requirements. Which seamstresses should receive the business of designing Riku’s suit for the masquerade. And so on and so forth.

It gave Sora a headache, but watching Riku tick item after item off his very long checklist wasn’t so bad. At least they were together, even if he’d had to practically beg Riku to hang out with him that morning to make it happen. Sora hadn’t realized how much he soaked up Riku’s attention like a flower in the sun until the Confession had come between them.

“So,” he said as he rifled through the glossy photographs of the Princesses that were spilled over Riku’s desk. “Do you have, like, a ‘type’?”

“A type of what?” Riku asked absently, not looking up from the seating arrangement he was scribbling on.

“Princess. I mean, are you supposed to go into something like this knowing what you want already or are you going to let them surprise you?”

Riku set his pen down. “Actually, I have no idea. I heard that the prince at the Castle of Dreams held one of these only to end up choosing Cinderella based on her shoe size.”

“That’s stupid.” Sora collected some of the photographs so he could clear enough of a space on the desk for him to sit on. “What about the seventh Princess of Heart you told me about? Have we heard any more about that?”

“Nope. Dad won’t even tell me who she is. I don’t know if that’s because he’s got a backup plan for this backup plan that involves her somehow or if he’s protecting her privacy because she’s powerless. But, either way, she’s not coming to marry me.”

“Her loss.”

Riku looked up at him then, with a soft expression that made Sora’s heart beat just a little faster now that he knew it for what it was. He flushed and tried to ignore it. _Don’t even think about it. There’s no point._

“It’s so weird that you’re getting married,” he said quickly. “When did you become an adult?”

“Well, legally, some time around my eighteenth birthday.”

Sora huffed out a laugh, unsure how to put into words the complicated emotions that he was feeling. The sudden sense that he was being left behind, even though Riku’s marriage wasn’t _about_ him. (Though wasn’t it, a little bit, if Riku was in love with him…?) He wanted to say that he was afraid that Riku would forget about him, spending more and more time with his new wife until their friendship was just a fond memory. He wanted to say that he was proud of the man that Riku had grown into, the responsible prince that he was and the amazing king that he would someday be. And he wanted to say that he couldn’t stop thinking about—

 _Sora, I love you. I’m_ in _love with you._

 _I’ve been in love with you for – fuck,_ years _now._

_I love you so much, Sora._

—Riku’s confession and how little sense it made to him even now after he’d talked to Leon about it. There was no point, but Riku _loved_ him, and that _mattered_. Sora didn’t want to stop thinking about the incredible marvel of it.

Riku.

Loving _him_.

“Hey,” Riku said, and Sora looked over to see him leaning back in his desk chair, watching him with wary concern. “You all right? I lost you there for a minute.”

That wariness in Riku’s eyes had never been there before, and it made Sora sad to see it. No matter how he tried to ignore it, their friendship had changed. He _knew_ that. And it wasn’t his fault, and it wasn’t Riku’s either. There would be more awkwardness, more caution, until they got back in sync again. Which they _would_ , because they were Sora and Riku and they had been Sora and Riku for as long as Sora could remember. He just had to put this obsession behind him.

He flashed his brightest smile. “All good. Just wondering if it’s weird for me to be helping you with this.”

Oh. Oh, no. Why the hell had he said _that_?!

Riku’s face was now blank. “So, we’re talking about it?”

“Well,” Sora’s mouth continued without input from his panicking, all-alarms-blaring, mid-meltdown brain. “We’ve always been able to talk about anything, haven’t we? Why not this?”

“Sora—”

“You told me you love me and then you told me that you’re getting _married_ , and I won’t stand in the way of that. I know how important this is. But you can’t just leave me to deal with these feelings all by myself—!”

Riku ran a hand over his face. “Sora, it’s—I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“It’s just,” Sora finished, because he might as well commit to it now, “I can’t work out how I feel when I know that there’s no chance of anything happening. I’ve loved you my whole life, Riku. But what’s the point in thinking about whether or not that could be romantic when nothing can come of it? I keep picturing it all in my head, but it’s hard when we can’t even _kiss_ once or something. Just to see.”

Riku was quiet for a long time. Sora could feel his eyes on the side of his face, but he continued to watch his feet swing back and forth instead of trying to return the eye contact. He wasn’t going to take the words back now that they were out there, and now that they _were_ out there it was like days of anxiety had fled to leave nothing but exhaustion behind.

What a hopeless situation they were in.

But finally, with his voice oddly choked, Riku said, “Who says we can’t kiss?” And then, “We can – We should kiss.”

“Wait,” Sora’s eyes shot to his. “Really?”

“Yeah. I’m not married _right now_. And I want to.” Riku swallowed. “If you want to, then I want to. I want… I want to have this. Before I can’t.”

Sora’s heart fluttered like a butterfly trapped in a jar. “Okay, then.”

He gathered up the rest of the photos and papers and folders and set them on the edge of the desk so he could slide over until Riku was seated between his legs. Riku scooted the chair forward, never breaking eye contact, and even the _screech, screech, screech_ of the legs dragging over stone wasn’t loud enough to hide the thudding of Sora’s heartbeat.

From this angle, Riku was shorter than him for once, but tall enough that Sora still didn’t have to bend very far to press their foreheads together, his hands on Riku’s shoulders for balance. Riku’s breath shook like the gummi ship during a rough landing, his silver lashes touching his cheeks as he closed his eyes. Leon had forced Sora to confront the fact that he found Riku attractive, but he hadn’t truly processed it until this moment. Attractive did Riku’s face a disservice. This close, he was _gorgeous_.

Sora closed his own eyes and kissed him.

It became immediately apparent that neither of them had ever done this before. Riku gasped as soon as Sora’s lips touched his, which meant that Sora ended up kissing mostly his front teeth instead. They both pulled back, apologized, and leaned in again with determination. This time, their noses smacked off each other like bumper cars, sending them both reeling back with a curse.

“Oh my _god_ ,” Riku said, pained in a way that seemed to go beyond his nose. “Of course this is how this would go.”

Sora rubbed his own nose, snickering. “We’re so lame. One more try?”

“I mean, if you still want—”

“I definitely, definitely still want.”

Riku’s hand cupped Sora’s cheek as their lips met a third time, this one a smooth glide that made a shiver run through Sora’s whole body. He sucked Riku’s bottom lip into his mouth and nibbled and Riku made a sound that Sora would remember for the rest of his life.

Suddenly, the awkwardness of the moment was lost in an explosion of heat.

Sora’s arms slid around Riku’s neck and yanked him forward until Riku was standing, his hands on the desk pressed to either side of Sora’s thighs. Their lips knocked together, more earnest than skillful, more desperate than sensual. A moment later, Riku’s mouth was open against his, tongue tracing the line of his lips, and Sora moaned a little helplessly at how _good_ that felt.

And then Riku licked his way into Sora’s mouth, slow and thorough, and that felt even better.

He clung to Riku, allowing himself to be teased and tasted and _savored_ as Riku’s hand came back up to rest on his cheek like a brand. Sora tilted his face into the touch, his tongue sliding slick and hot over Riku’s, demanding the right to explore Riku’s mouth in turn. Riku yielded to him easily, eagerly even, breathing hard as Sora’s fingers slid down his back, his nails dragging hard against the fabric of Riku’s shirt.

“ _Sora_ ,” Riku groaned.

Sora whimpered, his heart galloping in his chest. “Riku, this is—”

“I know.” Riku pressed another kiss to the corner of his mouth. “I know.”

This didn’t feel like closure. It felt like a beginning. But they both knew that whatever they were starting here had to end here, too. Nothing had changed. Nothing had changed but that Riku had now been Sora’s first kiss and his second and his third and was still peppering kisses across Sora’s cheek and jaw as if they had hours to explore this new heat between them.

Sora suddenly wanted to cry.

With one last, lingering kiss to his mouth, Riku finally drew back enough to look at Sora, and there was pain in his eyes, too. But it paled in comparison to the pure contentment that Sora could see there, like Riku could want nothing more than to stand right here, looking at a Sora freshly kissed by him.

“You idiot,” Sora managed to say after five tries and even then his voice still cracked. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

Visions of what could have been solidified in Sora’s mind. The decades of memories he’d thought of at dinner with Leon, taken to a more romantic conclusion, felt more real now that he knew what Riku felt like and sounded like and _tasted_ like. At the time, he’d blushed just to think of holding Riku’s hand, of touching Riku’s face, of leaning in for a kiss that was nowhere near as electrifying as the one he’d just experienced. Those images seemed childish now that he knew to want more.

“I’m sorry.” Riku sat back down in his chair, breathing like he’d just run a marathon. “But I’m actually kind of glad I didn’t. If we’d been dating this whole time, there’s no _way_ I’d give you up to save the world.”

Sora’s stomach flipped at the words, and he ducked his head to hide a smile. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re the prince. You can’t choose me over the _world_.”

“No,” Riku sighed. “I guess I can’t.”

Reality struck Sora in the silence that followed, his lips still red and swollen from the kiss. Fact number one: Riku loved him. Fact number two: Sora could like him back, at least enough to have his heart broken by fact number three, which was that, no matter what, Riku had to get married to stop Disney Castle from falling into darkness. Riku’s confession changed nothing. Sora’s realization about his own feelings changed nothing. Their kiss changed _nothing_.

If Riku could live with that after loving Sora as long as he had, then Sora had to learn to live with it, too.

“Listen, I really do think you should try dating Kairi. You guys are great together.” Riku wasn’t meeting his eyes, even though his tone was earnest. His breathing had evened out, but there was still a throatiness in his voice from their kiss that made his words seem even more absurd than they would otherwise. “This is more than I ever thought I would get, and I want you to be happy. Kairi could make you happy.”

Sora, who could still taste Riku on his tongue, just licked his lips. “I’m not going to ‘try’ dating Kairi. You guys aren’t interchangeable. You both make me happy, but with Kairi it’s different. It’s… It’s not _this_.” He tried to shake off the sudden weight that seemed to press down on his chest, making it hard to breathe. “We should probably get back to work on looking over your brides, huh?”

Riku’s sudden laser focus on his lips broke as he smirked, leaning back in his chair.

“Oh?” he asked. “Are you sure it’s not weird for _you_ to be helping me with this?”

Sora rolled his eyes at the echo of his own words, unable to stop himself from smiling. “Shut up, Riku.”

 

 

Roxas had one of those faces that managed to look perpetually suspicious. But in his defense, Kairi _was_ doing something suspicious.

Much like with Axel, she never had much of a reason to be talking to Roxas or any other member of the Organization. She’d seen Roxas with Axel, she’d seen Roxas with Ventus, and she’d seen Roxas with Royal Guards Hayner, Pence, and Olette, but they’d only spoken a handful of words to each other in the last decade or so. Sora and Roxas seemed friendly, too, but that didn’t mean much when Sora knew everyone in the castle and their parents and their pets.

The point was, it wasn’t exactly common for Kairi to be hovering outside of Roxas’ room. Which was probably why Roxas’ eyebrows rose halfway to his hairline when he saw her.

“Hello, Kairi,” he said, his polite tone undercut with a thread of wariness. “Are you looking for Axel?”

Kairi raised her own eyebrows. “Is there a reason I should think Axel would be in your room at,” She checked the clock visible in the room behind him, “Eight o’clock in the morning?”

But Roxas clearly wasn’t in the mood to indulge her teasing. He closed the door behind himself and started walking, slow enough for her to easily keep pace with him. “So, what is this about?”

“Well,” she sighed. “It’s _about_ Axel.”

Roxas released a quiet laugh, his expression softening. “What about him?”

“I’m sure you know about his,” her voice lowered, “ _Top secret keyblade training_. I don’t know if he told you, but I’m the one training him. To start with, anyway. I just wanted to pick your brain a little.”

“About what exactly?”

“I don’t know. Stuff about him. His childhood. His hobbies. What he likes. What he hates.”

“And you’re asking me instead of him because…?”

Kairi tried to keep the words light as she forced them out. “Because he hates me, of course. He won’t tell me anything.”

“He hates you?” Roxas’ eyebrows were becoming one with his hair again, and the surprise on his face felt real.

Kairi found that immensely comforting. If Axel had never spoken to his best friend about hating her, then it couldn’t possibly be as serious as she thought. Maybe there was something else going on. Maybe she was as inconsequential as taking a breath.

“I mean. Yeah?” She folded her arms as they descended a flight of stairs. “He’s never really seemed to like me, and he won’t tell me why.”

Roxas hummed thoughtfully. Silence drifted between them.

“Anyway,” she continued. “That’s why I figured I’d try with you, so I can help him get stronger. Unless you hate me, too.”

“I don’t think about you.” Roxas sputtered when he saw her face fall. “Not like – I mean. I just meant that I’m pretty sure this is the first time we’ve – Have we ever spoken before?” He coughed. “Look, I don’t _hate_ you. And I’m pretty sure Axel doesn’t either.”

Even though he looked nearly identical to his older brother Ventus, it was crazy how much Roxas actually reminded Kairi of Sora sometimes.

“That’s not the point,” she reminded both of them. “The _point_ is, will you help me?”

“Will I tell you stuff that Axel won’t tell you about his life?”

“That’s not what I—”

“That’s _exactly_ what you’re asking. And the answer is no.”

Kairi knew her entire face was red, but she couldn’t stop that anymore than she could stop the rush of shame. When Roxas put it like that, it made her feel like a jerk. And yet she couldn’t argue with him. In a certain manner of speaking, that was what she _was_ asking. Her hands clenched into fists at her side and several moments of walking passed before she could speak again.

“You’re right. If I want to know anything about Axel, he should be the one to tell me.” She gave him a hesitant smile. “I’m sorry.”

Roxas waved a hand. “Your intentions were good. Trust me, I want Axel to be a great keyblade wielder as much as anyone else, but that’s not the way to do it.”

“Then what _is_?” Kairi began before it struck her like a Thunder spell. “ _Oh_. Roxas, it’s you!”

“Me?”

“Axel summoned his keyblade to protect _you_.”

The confusion fell off his face as he came to a stop in the middle of the hallway. “Hey, yeah, you’re right. Maybe if it looked like I was in danger again, he would—”

“What? No. No, no.” She shook her head. “I meant maybe you could come with us to training and—”

Now Roxas was the one shaking his head. “I’d love to, really, but I don’t have time for that. Axel shifted all of his Organization responsibilities to me so he could make time for training, and we can’t both be out of commission. Especially not right now. I can give you _maybe_ two hours arranged in advance, but regular training? I can’t.”

“So you’d rather purposefully put yourself in danger? Or trick Axel into _thinking_ you’re in danger? That seems so…” _Reckless._ _Traitorous._ _Awful._ None of the words seemed bad enough for what this was. None of them seemed to match how she felt when she pictured Axel’s face when he found out the truth.

What he’d think of her then.

But Roxas just grinned as he finished her sentence. “Manipulative? It absolutely is. Trust me, Axel will respect it.”

 

 

Axel heard them before he saw them.

He could pick Roxas out of a crowd with nothing but his voice to go on, so he drifted that way naturally. The second voice he had trouble placing until he stepped out onto the lawn and saw her, gripping her keyblade in both hands as she faced Roxas down. Kairi’s back was to him, so he could have run if he’d wanted to. But he didn’t. Instead, he took advantage of the rare chance to observe her when she wasn’t snapping at him.

She was a natural. He could tell that right away just by watching her forms. They weren’t the rigid, exact, overwrought movements of a student trying to copy a teacher. There was passion in her slashes, adaptability in her flips, and calculation in the spells that she threw at Roxas. She was focused not on mastery, but on winning by whatever means necessary, and even though Roxas clearly eclipsed her in raw power, she was still giving him a run for his money.

Axel had to admit that maybe the old man wasn’t crazy to pair him with Kairi for a teacher. Her training was clearly going great.

Why was she sparring with Roxas, though? He didn’t even know they spoke.

Of course, Kairi could have sought Roxas out because of him. He wouldn’t put it past her, after the way their last lesson had ended.

After yet another failed attempt to summon his keyblade intentionally, they had ended up in one of Master Yen Sid’s many empty conjured rooms in the Mysterious Tower. Yen Sid had been out consulting Merlin, so they could have done it in his office, but Kairi had insisted on a change of scenery. The room she’d chosen – or that had chosen her – had had floor to ceiling windows that showed a breathtaking view of the star-filled sky beyond that completely eclipsed the artificial light coming from the floating flame lanterns lining the ceiling. Kairi had fetched two pillows out of a closet for them to use to sit cross-legged across from each other on the floor.

“Personal question and answer time!” she’d said like a TV host announcing a surprise guest. “It’s like truth or truth, except horrible. But at least we’ll get to know each other better.”

Axel, who even now was disinclined to let Kairi get to know him any better, had just made a sound that was more of a puff of air than a laugh. But he hadn’t argued, not even when she had opened by asking why he and Saïx weren’t close anymore.

“Is there a pass option on any of these?” he had drawled, mostly to waste time while he thought of a better answer than the truth. “That’s pretty personal already.”

Her surprised apologies had wasted even more time, and Axel had waved them aside to finally say that Saïx had grown jealous of his budding friendship with Roxas and had acted out in ways that had driven them apart. “He just… used to be different,” Axel had finished, which wasn’t a _complete_ lie. “But he says I used to be different, too, so I guess we both disappointed each other.”

Kairi had sniffed and then covered her mouth and nose with a hand. “Oh, man, do you smell that?”

“What?” The room had smelled faintly of magic, but that wasn’t a scent that one could really put into words. Nor was it new. “Smell what?”

Kairi had folded her arms and pulled a face. “The scent of bullshit.” Her eyebrows arched. “You think I can’t tell when you’re not being honest with me? Your eyes can’t lie.”

The lesson had kind of devolved from there, but Axel remembered leaving the Tower unsettled. His eyes couldn’t lie? What did that even mean? And what was he supposed to do about that? Wear a blindfold?

Anyway, it made sense that Kairi would seek Roxas out to get the real story about him and Saïx, and it made sense that a friendship could have formed from there. Kairi was offensively endearing, and, while Roxas wouldn’t tell Axel’s secrets even under threat of death, he could always use more friends. He was sometimes too shy to make them himself.

The two circled each other now, looking for openings in one another’s guards. Axel leaned against the wall and considered going back inside before either of them noticed him. And maybe he would have, if Roxas hadn’t caught sight of him.

If Kairi hadn’t taken advantage of Roxas’ temporary distraction to throw a Flower Shoot at him.

If Roxas hadn’t blocked the blast easily and then leaped into the air, the way he did to summon enough power for Magic Hour.

Axel saw Kairi falter as the ground around her began to glow in randomly placed circles that he knew would suddenly explode upward into giant pillars of light. It was one of Roxas’ most devastating attacks, entirely out of place in a spar. If you didn’t know how to block it, it could knock out some of even the strongest opponents.

The first pillar surged upward. Kairi dodge rolled out of the way – and right on top of another glowing circle.

Axel raced toward her.

The pillar beneath her feet shot her into the air. Destiny’s Embrace went flying and then disappeared. Kairi hurtled back toward the ground as more and more pillars appeared around her, and Axel jumped to catch her before she could hit the grass. But her weight knocked him off balance, and they tumbled forward erratically. Thankfully, Kairi rolled out of his arms and to a safe stop a few feet away as Axel whirled around.

Because the attack didn’t end there.

All the pillars of light that had shot upward into the sky were now shooting back down. Axel lifted his arms, ready to summon his own beams of fire to fight back—

—And instead his keyblade appeared in his hand. Again. _Finally_.

He swung the keyblade back and forth, knocking every laser of light away until the entire courtyard around himself and Kairi gleamed. As the attack faded, Roxas landed on his feet again, an impressed look on his face. Axel smirked in return, ready to taunt Roxas about being a stronger keyblade wielder than him when he heard a stirring of movement behind him.

It was Kairi, sitting up unsteadily and watching him with wide blue eyes. “Axel, you… you protected me?”

“I told you he didn’t hate you,” Roxas said, dispelling both his keyblades and casting a Cura over himself and Kairi. She climbed to her feet, a guilty expression on her face, and the matching amusement on Roxas’ made Axel realize he’d been played.

“I’ve taught you too well,” he sniped, though it lacked the heat of true anger. He was too pleased to be angry, the way he always was whenever Roxas managed to get one over on him for once. “The two of you need to stop hanging out immediately.”

There was surprise on Kairi’s face now, as if she hadn’t quite believed he wouldn’t throw a fit until she saw it for herself. He grinned at her. “A dishonest spy is a spy who’s really good at his job, princess. And considering I trained Roxas, he’s basically complimenting me when he tricks me.”

Roxas scoffed. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

Before Kairi could form a response, someone called her name. All three of them turned to see Sora waltzing into the courtyard with his arms folded behind his head in that way that he and Ven tended to do. The wide smile on his face was pure Sora, though.

“Kairi, that was awesome!” He said as soon as he got close. “I’m bitter that you sparred with Roxas before you sparred with me or Riku, but that was _so cool_ that I forgive you.”

Kairi giggled, her cheeks pink. “Oh, you saw that, did you?”

“I heard all the fighting on my way to the Hangar and then I had to come watch. Roxas kicks my ass every time I spar with him, and you held out way longer than I would have!”

“You’ve beat me a couple of times,” Roxas admitted. “The rest of the time you’re just there to have fun, and I’m there to win.”

Sora stuck his tongue out at Roxas and then turned to Kairi again. “We should have a celebration dinner! You had your first spar and it was against Roxas and you held your own. That’s got to be worth a trip to Disney Town to eat, don’t you think?”

The way that Kairi lit up under Sora’s attention made Axel frown. She seemed to have forgotten that Axel was even there, though the whole point of this farce had been to trick him into revealing his true feelings and get him out of his own head long enough to summon his keyblade again. Worse, it was almost as if the match was only valid now that _Sora_ had approved of it, and it was so unlike the Kairi that he knew to care what someone else thought of her that he wanted to just—

Just nothing. It was none of his business. _She_ was none of his business.

Axel shook his head, realizing belatedly that Sora and Kairi were leaving the courtyard, talking excitedly about restaurants they wanted to try for the first time. He didn’t know if they had even said goodbye, and he told himself not to care about that either.

At least Roxas was still standing next to him in a silence that felt comfortable, even though Axel had been checked out for at least half of it.

“So,” Roxas drawled. “You hate her, huh?”

“Shut up,” Axel replied, scratching the back of his head with the handle of the keyblade that was still, somehow, in his hand. “What was that? Were you trying to _kill her_?”

“I was proving a point. And I did. Now, what are you going to do about it?”

Axel could feel Roxas’ expectant eyes on the side of his face, but he didn’t want to deal with any of that right now. He sighed, tipping his head back to look at the endless sky. “I have to talk to her later. I’ll… see then. Maybe.”

Roxas’ only response was to give Axel a reassuring pat on the back.

 

 

On the other side of the castle, Cloud clashed blades with Zack, neither of them strong enough to overpower the other. The strain in his muscles and the adrenaline pumping through his body made him smile fiercely at his friend, who was already grinning at him. Zack loved a good fight more than he did, but Cloud loved sparring with Zack in particular because of what a natural he was. He made Cloud better just to get on his level.

He was so absorbed in the fight that he didn’t notice they had company until Zack shouted, “Hey, Leonhart! Want to go a few rounds for old time’s sake?”

Cloud lowered his Buster Sword at the same time Zack did and turned to see Leon striding into the Inner Courtyard, the gunblade over one shoulder. At first, he thought he must be dreaming; he hadn’t thought of Leon for hours, but what other explanation could there be for him to be out of his office at this time? Then, he thought maybe the castle was under attack and he just hadn’t noticed again. But then Leon was in front of him, his scar stark across his face, and Cloud realized that this was wonderfully, perfectly real.

“Hey,” Leon murmured as if his presence in the yard hadn’t drawn the attention of all of the sparring Black Coats. “Thought I’d come watch you train for a bit.”

“Yeah?” Cloud asked, helpless to stop himself from smiling. “What for?”

Leon’s answering smile was more of a smirk. “I like the view.”

Zack was making gagging sounds behind him, but Cloud just flipped him off without turning away from the sight of Leon’s face.

“And,” Leon continued, laughter in his voice. “I thought afterward I could take you out for dinner. Maybe offworld. Interested?”

Cloud tried not to sound as shocked as he felt. “Of course I’m—”

“Hello? Last time I checked, it was training time,” Yuffie said from across the courtyard, jabbing an accusing finger in Leon’s direction. “If you’re going to stay, you’ve got to fight.”

Leon’s smirk grew as dark as a sunset. “Well, if I _have_ to.”

A shiver brushed up Cloud’s spine as he fought not to get aroused in front of his soldiers. But even back when he had been with Sephiroth, the first time that he and Leon had sparred had been so explosive it had felt like flirting. Naturally, Cloud had subsequently made sure to spar with _anyone else_ , and Leon, having felt that same heat between them, had respectfully agreed that was for the best.

After the breakup, it had been Cloud, desperate to feel something again, who had restarted their sparring sessions after resisting for a year. It had also been Cloud, terrified of being defined by a relationship again, who had refused to acknowledge that anything beyond friendship was happening between them for three more years before they kissed.

Leon had never pushed, never shamed, never fought – he’d never done anything but respect Cloud’s boundaries and give him space until he asked for more.

No one had ever asked Cloud what he wanted that much before. Sephiroth had been the one to get them safely out of Olympus, so it was Sephiroth who usually made decisions for the both of them. He’d known best, after all. He’d _saved_ them. Even as everyone in his life pointed out how toxically co-dependent their relationship had gotten, even as everyone warned him about how poisonously possessive Sephiroth had become, Cloud stayed with him because he didn’t know to want anything else. Before Leon, anyway.

His gaze found Sephiroth as Leon did his stretches. Green eyes were narrowed at Leon, but Sephiroth’s expression was blank of the kind of loathing that he had once directed at the other man – or, really, at anyone who had tried to spend even a second of the time he’d felt Cloud should have been spending with him. Sephiroth was thirty-eight now, not twenty-one, and his temper had mellowed accordingly. But that didn’t mean that he was happy about Leon being here.

He caught Cloud watching him and offered a small smile, tinged with a certain wistfulness. At least he was trying.

Leon finished his stretches and hefted the Revolver again. “Ready?”

“Heh,” was Cloud’s only response.

He leapt into the air and shot across the courtyard. Buster Sword and the Revolver connected, but Leon's guard wasn’t enough to keep him on his feet. Cloud landed easily as Leon went flying, grinning when Leon rolled into a crouch and skidded to a stop mere inches away from Ventus and Tifa. As soon as he was standing upright again, Leon began shooting balls of fire at him. Cloud hurtled across the grass to avoid them.

“Is this a fight or a race?” Leon teased.

“Can’t it be both?” Cloud lobbied back before whirling around to perform a Cross Slash. He appeared behind Leon and swung his blade through the air. But Leon flipped out of the way and brought the gunblade around while he was still mid-flip. This time, it was Cloud who skidded across the ground, kicking up grass and rocks.

He recovered quickly and ate up the distance between them again with a war cry that put the smirk back on Leon’s face. This was neither a race nor a fight anymore; it was a dance, in which they were equally matched in skill. He met Leon’s every blow with one of his own, Leon predicted his every feint and reacted accordingly, and their swords met again and again as they moved around the courtyard completely lost in one another.

Thirteen years behind a desk had done nothing to dull Leon’s skills. If anything, he’d only gotten more deadly with so much more to lose.

Cloud met Leon’s eyes as they crossed blades and tried to overpower one another, seeing the excitement, arousal, and love shining back at him. And where he had once felt the fluttering of butterflies, the double pounding of a heart re-learning how to beat for another person, this time they were eleven years strong and eleven years certain.

This time, all he felt was a powerful sense of belonging, like this was exactly where he was meant to be, exactly what he was meant to be doing, and exactly who he was meant to be doing it with. All he felt was that he was home, and the quiet confidence that Leon had found a home in him, too.

Then Leon kicked him in the chest, and all warm feelings that Cloud had toward him abruptly evaporated.

“Son of a bitch!”

Leon laughed. “ _Hey_ , you didn’t even know my mother.”

He appeared over Cloud a moment later, his hand extended. Cloud accepted the help up, still muttering curses under his breath as he glanced around to see where his Buster Sword had flown to. He was so absorbed in the search that he didn’t notice Leon sinking to his knees until he heard someone – Yuffie? Tifa? Ventus? – gasp.

Cloud stared down at him. “What are you—”

“I was going to do this properly, in a restaurant at Traverse Town, because I thought that was where it happened.” Leon said, reaching into his pocket and withdrawing an actual ring, a silver band that was plain except where it rose into the same lion’s head emblem that was also on the gunblade sticking out of the grass behind him. “But I was wrong. It happened here. I fell in love with you right here.”

Cloud could feel the goofy smile trying to dawn on his own face and stomped it down. At least he wasn’t blushing. “Really, with this right now?”

“Are you going to marry me or not, Strife?” Leon lifted the ring. “This is hell on my knees.”

“I guess this would be really embarrassing for you if I say no, so…”

Leon laughed. “Asshole.”

“That’s asshole fiancé to you.” Cloud let Leon slip the ring onto his finger and then yanked him up and into a kiss, both of them laughing too much to properly move their lips. He could hear the same breathless happiness in Leon’s voice that he was feeling, and that just made him laugh even more.

Engaged. He and Leon were _engaged_. He hadn’t even known that this had been on Leon’s mind, and now he was wearing what he knew was Leon’s father’s ring on his finger.

Cloud pulled back from the kiss to press his forehead against Leon’s, grinning wide. “I hope you have the rest of the afternoon off, because I’m going to need it.”

“Will you now?” Leon asked in a low voice. “Well, I have good news for both of us then…”

A sudden weight slammed into Cloud’s back and he nearly tipped over from the force of Yuffie jumping on him. Ventus, Tifa, Zack, and Aerith were right behind her, screaming and shouting their congratulations and asking to see the ring. The lone figure lingering on the other side of the courtyard was Sephiroth, but Cloud refused to let that ruin the moment.

“All right, all right,” he said a few minutes later, already over being the center of attention. The fact that his cheeks hurt from smiling so much was irrelevant. “Back to your drills. As fascinating as my personal life is to all of you, this _is_ still a training session.”

 

 

Kairi waited in her room until her stomach started to growl before she finally went to find Sora. He wasn’t in his room, or in Leon’s office, and Leon’s bedroom door was firmly locked. Finally, she found him in the Gummi Hangar, lying on a pallet pushed out from underneath a gummi block, while Riku leaned against the block, laughing at something Sora had said. They were so absorbed in their conversation that Kairi felt bad jolting them out of their bubble.

“Kai—wow!” Sora said, his eyes drifting over her in surprise. “Where are you going? You look amazing.”

“Um…”

Riku cleared his throat. “Didn’t you say you two had dinner plans?”

“Yeah, but not for like—” Sora gasped when he caught sight of the giant clock that hung over the entrance to the Hangar. “Oh, shit, is that really the time?”

Kairi smoothed down her skirt self-consciously as Sora popped off of the pallet and wiped his filthy hands on his equally filthy pants. She had traded in the battle clothes Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather had conjured for her for a more casual outfit: a white scoop neck shirt and a pleated pink skirt. Black ankle boots and a black belt with a pink buckle completed the outfit. Sora, meanwhile, had dirt on his cheeks, on his collar, down the front of his clothes, and even, somehow, on his ankle. He looked… well, weirdly hot and cute at the same time, but not exactly like someone who was planning to go out for a celebratory dinner.

“We don’t have to go out today. Or at all, really, since it was just a spar,” she said. “We can all hang out here instead! I mean, it seems like you have work to do and Riku’s here, so—”

Riku straightened, already shaking his head. “I’m on my way out, actually. Colette and I are meeting with some chefs about the menu, and that taste testing is going to be my dinner.”

“Luckyyyyyy,” Sora said, folding his arms behind his head before he remembered that his hands were covered in dirt and oil. He cursed and brought them down, but it was too late. Both Riku and Kairi burst into laughter at the stains now caked into his spikes, making it look like he’d unevenly dyed his hair black. “Ugh, Kairi, I’m so sorry. Can I grab a quick shower before we go? How hungry are you?”

Kairi was, in fact, very hungry, but she just waved him off. Sora immediately sprinted out of the Hangar, leaving her and Riku alone with his scattered tools and discarded oil rags. Riku smiled awkwardly and then glanced away so quick that Kairi got the sudden sense that he was hiding something. But she was afraid to push him, because if she did then he might ask about the curl to her hair or the flavored gloss on her lips or the secret wish in her heart that this celebration dinner might be something more like a date.

“So," Riku said after a long moment. “Sora told me you had your first spar with Roxas? How was that? He’s tough.”

“Oh my _god_ ,” Kairi said, practically melting with relief at the conversation topic. “He warned me before I got started, and I still thought I was going to _die_.”

By the time Sora came back, Kairi had almost managed to forget that they had dinner plans. Riku was in the middle of a hilarious story about the six months he’d spent thinking that Roxas hated him when he stuttered to a stop. Kairi followed his line of sight and felt her own heart stop as well.

Because Sora was standing there in a red hoodie sweater, black jeans, and white high top sneakers, topped off with an oversized black leather jacket that made him look like something from a magazine spread.

Her secret wish suddenly seemed within reach.

Silence bloomed between the three of them until Sora began to fidget. “What?”

“You look great,” said Kairi.

“Is that my jacket?” said Riku.

Sora looked down at himself, cheeks pink, and then looked up again from between his lashes. “Maybe?”

The next silence held a different kind of tension. Kairi glanced between her two friends, feeling like she was starting an unknown movie from the halfway point. Riku wasn’t even blinking, and the longer he stared, the redder Sora’s cheeks became.

 _Something_ had happened here. Something that neither of them had seen fit to tell her about.

Finally, Sora broke their eye contact. “Ready to go, Kairi?”

“Yeah,” she heard herself say, her brows furrowed. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Kairi didn’t ask during the walk into Disney Town, during which Sora told her at length about the gummi ship that he had gotten caught up in building. She didn’t ask as they wandered around the Main Plaza, playfully continuing their argument over which of the many restaurants they should eat at. And she didn’t ask when they settled on Celebration Tavern, finding a booth in the back where they could sit across from one another in relative privacy and order a spread of appetizers to share.

Only when she had finally blessed her snarling stomach with some food did Kairi find the courage to pry. “So, what’s going on with you and Riku?”

“What?” Sora nearly choked on the fries he had just stuffed in his mouth. Just like in the Hangar, his cheeks grew pink. “Nothing. I mean. What do you mean?”

If Kairi hadn’t already suspected that something was going on, his reaction alone would have made her suspicious. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and forced herself to giggle, hoping it didn’t sound as weak to his ears as it did to hers. “Very subtle. Just like the two of you thought you were being very subtle in the Hangar. Sorry, but I guess I just know you too well to think it’s _nothing_!”

Sora popped another fry in his mouth and chewed. “Nothing’s going on. He’s getting married. So it’s nothing.”

Kairi tried to parse those words for any indication that Sora knew how Riku felt about him, but they gave her nothing to work with. And she wasn’t going to be the one to tell him, especially when she still hadn't found the words to encompass her own feelings. “Well,” she said instead. “I’m here if you want to talk.”

“I know. Thanks, Kairi.” Sora’s smile was like the sun coming out from behind the clouds.

A light silence fell between them, during which Sora went back to eating his appetizers and Kairi tried not to snoop into things that she knew in her heart she didn’t really want to know any more about. Sora had clearly awakened into some sort of feelings for Riku, even if they couldn’t necessarily be together, and Kairi… Kairi would deal with that gracefully. Just like Riku had also promised to do if it had gone the other way, back when they had agreed to stop fighting for Sora’s sake.

“Hey,” Sora said. “You look really nice.”

Her traitorous stomach fluttered. “Oh, thank you. I just figured – you know. It’s not often that we go _out-_ out so. Maybe remember I have other clothes.”

“I know, right?” Sora tugged at the collar of his hoodie. “It’s weird being in something that _wasn’t_ magically designed for me to get smacked around in.”

Kairi laughed quietly. “Well, you look… I mean…”

“Thanks!”

“You’re welcome.”

Silence hovered again, this one a little more painful in its existence. Something felt _off_ , and Kairi didn’t know if it was her leaking feelings making things weird or if it was Sora feeling distant in the light of this new revelation. Unattainable where before he had seemed… inevitable.

“Do you remember when we met?” she found herself saying.

Sora tilted his head. “Yeah? Me and Riku came to see you in the infirmary when we heard that you’d woken up.”

Kairi shook her head. “You and I met before that, actually. Don’t you remember?”

The blank look on Sora’s face made it clear that he didn’t, but Kairi could close her eyes and see it like it was yesterday. She had been seven years old, and her world had been dying. Heartless teemed in the streets. What few people were left sometimes only staggered two feet before being consumed by darkness. Umiko had barricaded them in a secret place she no longer remembered and had never asked about, but the shadows were breaking down the door.

Seven years old, and she had thought that she was going to die.

Then, they were rescued. She couldn’t remember how or why, except that one minute they were in the secret place and the next King Mickey, flanked by Cloud and Sephiroth, had been ushering them toward a funny-looking thing they called a gummi ship. But on the way back to Disney Castle, something had caused the radar to beep shrilly.

Another world was about to fall. Destiny Islands.

The king had immediately charted a course there to evacuate any survivors, leaving Kairi and Umiko on the ship alone. But something… _something_ had called to her. As her grandmother dozed against the window, Kairi had made her way outside onto the golden sands beneath the dusky sky. She’d watched the pitch black water lap at the shore, a puzzled frown on her face. 

And then she’d tripped and fallen over as the heartless had surrounded her. Their glowing yellow eyes, merciless and creepy, had stared at her from amorphous faces as dark as midnight. She’d been too petrified to even scream. It was the second time that day that she’d believed, with her entire tiny body, that she was going to die.

But a single heartless had leapt over her head and crashed into the ones in front of her, almost as if it were protecting her. It had swiped and clawed and growled until all of the other heartless were gone, and then it had turned around and tilted its head at her exactly the way that Sora was doing now. There had been something human in its eyes, something oddly comforting. Something that had drawn her close enough to gingerly reach out a hand for it to smell, if it even had a nose.

“T-Thank you,” she’d said. “For saving me.”

The heartless’ antennae had twitched, but it hadn’t moved. Instead, Kairi had been the one to crawl across the sand until she could pull the tiny creature into a hug.

“Thank you,” she’d repeated.

And in a burst of glittering lights like something out of a fairy tale, the creature had disappeared and a boy had been holding her instead. A boy around her age, with big blue eyes like ocean water and spiky brown hair, wearing a white t-shirt with blue lining and red cargo shorts. A boy who had slowly released her to examine her as if she couldn’t possibly be real.

“ _Thank you_ ,” the boy had rasped, and then promptly passed out at her feet.

That was where a panicked Umiko had found them five minutes later.

Kairi had watched over Sora until the Black Coats returned, until they were in the air, until Destiny Islands was sucked into a massive ball of darkness and disappeared entirely. Then she, too, fainted and woke up a week later to two boys standing over her in an infirmary.

Sora’s eyes were wide and overly bright as she wrapped up her story, though there were more words clogging her throat. Restoring Sora to his body had made the king write to Master Yen Sid, who had deemed her to have a vast potential for light magic. But Kairi had never been able to use that power again on anyone else, so for her it meant something different. It had been the start of something, the start of _them_ , or at least a “them” that she had hoped would one day exist. It had been her heart knowing before she did that Sora was her important person.

“I remember that,” he breathed. “Well, some of it. I was…” A look of concentration settled on his face. “I was on the Islands. I was waiting. For Riku.”

The last small flame of hope that Kairi was holding onto blew out.

“I couldn’t find him. Everyone was gone and I couldn’t find him and I couldn’t leave without him. I was waiting in the Secret Place and I…” His eyebrows drew together. “I can’t believe I forgot about that. Everyone was gone, _Riku_ was gone, and I thought—” Sora shook his head as if to rid himself of the bad memories. “And then I woke up on the ship and the king said he could take me to Riku. And I was happy for the first time in… in so long…”

It felt like her chest had caved in and her dislocated ribs were piercing right through her heart, making every breath a pained labor. But still she smiled. Because this wasn’t about her. This was about two of the people she loved most in the world finding love with each other, and it _hurt_ , but it was _okay_ , because at least they would be happy. And she was happy for them.

She _was_.

“It’s always been Riku with you, huh?” Kairi said, smile widening. “You guys are so cute!”

It took Sora a few seconds to answer. “He’s getting _married_.”

“But you _liiiiiiiiiike_ him.”

The small, fond smile that a pink-cheeked Sora directed at his plate was unfairly adorable. And suddenly Kairi had reached her limit on dealing with this in public.

“Listen, I think I’m still tired from earlier.” She slid out of the booth, smoothing down her skirt and grabbing her jacket. “So I think I’m going to head up and turn in early. You coming?”

“Yeah, of course.” Sora stood next to her so he could nudge her with a shoulder. “Thanks again, Kairi. For, you know, saving me back then. And for tonight. And just generally being the best friend in the world.”

Kairi smiled and said nothing, tucking her broken heart away where it couldn’t hurt either one of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry. She'll be fine. See you next Sunday.


	5. Complicated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a warning, this is the last chapter that does NOT contain any explicit content, though not for lack of trying on Sora's part.

Soon after that, Sora’s nightmares returned.

In one, he was back on a dying island, the sun replaced by a ball of shadows that occasionally crackled with purple lightning. His feet were cemented to the ground as he watched everyone he knew get sucked into the darkness. His classmates. His neighbors. His parents, their faces an anonymous blur. He clutched Riku’s hand as tightly as he could, but the shadows reached for Riku with smoky fingers that clutched harder, and Riku was consumed. Sora screamed and screamed and screamed and _screamed_ , but the darkness never took him, too.  

In another, Sora was older, maybe fourteen, and he was running like his life was at stake. Ahead stood Riku, ocean waves lapping at his knees as he waited just offshore, and Sora was running to catch up to him. As Riku turned to face him, the crystal clear water turned an inky black, rising over both their heads in a destructive wave. “Riku!” Sora screamed, trying to warn him, trying to _help_ , but Riku just reached out a hand for him. Sora’s entire world narrowed to that pale porcelain palm, his lungs seizing as if he couldn’t take a breath until he touched that palm, held that hand, pulled Riku as close as two people could get. But the wave hit before their fingers could meet, washing Sora away. So far away that Riku would never find him.

In yet another, Sora was young again, a child of four waiting in the damp darkness of the Secret Place. The cave behind the waterfall was one that Sora and Riku had discovered during one of their many adventures; it was supposed to be a safe haven, a refuge, a secret kept close to his heart. But there he sat, shaking on the sandy floor with a knapsack full of food and supplies in his lap, his breaths gushing out in wild gasps. He was terrified, but he had to wait for Riku. They’d promised to meet in the Secret Place if anything ever happened, and Riku wasn’t there, and _what if he wasn’t coming at all_? What if Sora was really, truly alone? He was four and then seven and then four again and his only company was an unfamiliar voice, a boy’s voice, screaming his name like a restless ghost: _Sora, Sora, Sora…_

After the third time Sora woke up crying, he decided to get out of bed.

Disney Castle was a different place at night. The many, many people that lived and worked there were at rest, giving the empty hallways a graveyard air that Sora did _not_ care for. Maybe that would change when the Princesses arrived in a week, but for now the silence felt oppressive. Terrifying.

Sora didn’t even glance to where Leon’s door waited just a few feet away as he padded out of his room. Instead, he traced a familiar path up the stairs and through another hallway. There, he found the first sign of life: Royal Guards on the night shift, standing at attention outside of the door.

“Hi, Rai. Hi, Fuu,” Sora said, because even with dread still choking him he was happy to see some familiar faces. “Quiet night?”

“Sora,” Fuu greeted with a nod.

“A quiet night’s better than the alternative, y’know?” Rai answered, knocking on the door once before opening it to let Sora through. “Get some sleep, all right?”

Sora entered Riku’s room rather than make promises that he couldn’t keep.

Riku’s bedroom in Disney Castle looked more lived in than Sora’s patchy memories of Riku’s bedroom on Destiny Islands. It was decorated in forest greens and navy blues: a forest green carpet on the marble floor, navy blue sheets on the untouched bed, navy blue curtains fluttering in the breeze that blew in from the balcony. Sora passed a bookshelf crammed with books on the bottom two shelves and gifts on the top two, many of which Sora had brought back from his various trips with the Black Coats. He saw a tattered paopu fruit pillow from Destiny Islands, a bottle of colored sand from Atlantica, seashells in a jar collected from the beach in Twilight Town. A wooden sword leaned against the wall, not one of those that they’d battled with when they were younger but a replica identical to the one in Sora’s room. Riku had hand carved matching ones for Sora’s sixteenth birthday.

In light of everything that had happened, Riku’s room felt almost like a portrait of how deeply entwined they were in each other’s lives. Everywhere he looked, he saw pieces of himself, pieces of _them_ , lovingly preserved in Riku’s most sacred and private space. The keychain for Oblivion felt warm against his hip, like a reminder that his own room probably looked much the same.

God, he’d been so _blind_.

Sora finally found Riku outside on the balcony, sitting in a cushioned wicker chair with a blanket over his legs as he stared at the stars. Riku’s eyes glowed with concern in the moonlight as he approached.

“Sora?” he asked. “What—?”

“Please,” Sora said.

Riku shifted to make room in the chair and silently lifted the blanket.

Usually, Sora would wedge himself in next to Riku in the bed or in the chair and stay there, warm and safe, until he fell asleep again. But this time Sora climbed into Riku’s lap, his legs thrown over the arm of the wicker chair, his cheek pressed against Riku’s shoulder. Riku tensed for all of three seconds before his arm came up to wrap around Sora’s back and his other hand tugged the blanket over both of them. That same hand then hesitantly came to rest on Sora’s knee and this was… better. This felt right. Sora practically melted into Riku’s heat, calm for the first time since he’d woken up.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Riku murmured, his hair tickling Sora’s nose as he tilted his head down.

“They came back,” Sora said. “The nightmares. They’re – it’s the same.”

“Oh.”

The guilt threaded through that simple word made Sora lift his head. “You know I don’t blame you.”

“I know.” Riku bit his lip, which Sora, in his newly heightened awareness of all things Riku, found vaguely distracting. “But maybe you should.”

And then he told Sora the story that his parents had apparently told him, about how he came to be the heir to the throne of the five children they had rescued from Destiny Islands. It was not a story that Sora had ever heard before or even cared to hear before. They had all looked to Riku as a leader on the Islands, so it had surprised no one for him to be one here as well. But the story did wonders to explain the pinched expression on Riku’s face, as if the fault for Sora’s nightmares should be his burden to bear.

Especially since they both knew Sora hadn’t had nightmares this bad since he’d first escaped the island. For his entire first month at Disney Castle, Sora had been unable to sleep unless it was with Riku and had woken up several times to make sure that finding Riku had not been the dream.

He shifted in Riku’s lap so that he could reach out the way he’d done all those years ago, his fingers caressing Riku’s cheek to reassure himself that he was real. Riku’s breath hitched, which, well. _That_ was nothing like it had been all those years ago. Sora’s actions carried a heavier meaning now that they were no longer children.

His chest tightened, but he didn’t pull away. After a moment, Riku leaned into his touch, observing him with eyes like a field at midnight.

“You did everything you could,” Sora said at last. “Including making the mouse who _did_ find me promise to look when you couldn’t. Not everything’s your fault, Riku.”

A dubious expression crossed Riku’s face. “Why are you having nightmares again then?”

Sora wanted to tell him about Kairi’s story at dinner, but he knew that wasn’t the real reason. He remembered nothing about the time he had apparently been a heartless and almost nothing about the time before that. But what little he did remember was tainted not with loss but with fear. The fear of not knowing what had happened to Riku, if he would ever see him again, if he was even still alive. It was a fear that choked him still, because Riku had meant everything to him when he was a child and losing him had broken something in Sora.

He knew that now. That was why he hadn’t wanted to face the possibility that he could love Riku like that with everything that was going on. Because if Riku came to mean even more to him, and Sora lost him _again_ …

But as he looked at Riku’s face, outlined in silver moonlight, his entire body was struck by a simple truth. It didn’t matter how many people had teased him about Kairi and it didn’t matter what Riku thought he knew about Sora’s heart. If Riku was an option, if Sora had a _choice_ , he would choose Riku every time.

He couldn’t run from these feelings anymore. Neither, apparently, could he run from his fears. He had to face them both.

Sora blew out a sigh, swallowing back a confession he couldn’t make. “I just started remembering things from the Islands. Things I haven’t thought about in years. And once I started to remember, I couldn’t stop, whether I was awake or asleep. It never stops. I don’t remember why they stopped before.”

“You don’t? Gee, thanks.” There was something light and mischievous in Riku’s eyes now, something that melted the chilly fear that had rolled up Sora’s spine. “I can’t believe you forgot what I told you when you told me about your nightmares. You can remember everything but that?”

“Don’t be a jerk! My memories are _fragile_ , okay? I only remember the bad stuff right now.”

Riku laughed. “I told you that you didn’t have to be scared of your nightmares because I’m what nightmares fear.”

And the memory unfurled in Sora’s mind: the fierce expression on Riku’s face as he’d made that declaration with the kind of conviction only an eight year old could have. The way he had assured Sora that the reason he saw Riku so often in his dreams was because Riku was looking out for him. That no matter where Sora was, even if only trapped in his own mind, Riku would find him and protect him. And Sora, with the kind of belief only a seven year old could have, had fallen into a peaceful sleep for the first time in weeks.

“That,” Sora snickered. “Sounds so much lamer now that we’re older. ‘I’m what nightmares fear!’ Really?”

“You believed me then and you believe me now,” Riku said. “So who’s really the lame one?”

Sora wanted to kiss him again and only barely managed to catch himself in time. _It was a one-time thing. He’s getting married. Don’t ruin this._ He smiled instead, pressing in close to tuck his face against the side of Riku’s neck, inhaling the scent of keyblade oil and citrus and Riku’s natural musk.

He was still smiling as he fell asleep there, safe in Riku’s arms beneath a star streaked sky.

  


 

Axel had enough time to practice nine excuses for his actions in the Courtyard before Kairi actually summoned him to the Mysterious Tower for training. She had cancelled the last two sessions, which had seemed like a relief at the time. But now, as he jogged up the stairs to Yen Sid’s office, it seemed more like an omen.

Especially when he finally caught sight of her.

Outwardly, Kairi looked no different than usual. She stood by the desk in the otherwise empty room, wearing her pink hoodie dress and teardrop necklace, her face turned toward the window. But her eyes were unfocused, so deep was she in thought, and not even clearing his throat managed to pull her attention from the skyline. In fact, he managed to approach her _and_ lay a hand on her shoulder before she stiffened.

Crystal blue eyes peered up at him. “Axel? When did you get here?”

“Chronologically or existentially?”

Her answering smile was faint. And instead of calling him on his shit, instead of demanding answers about why he’d claimed to hate her one day and protected her from his closest friend the next, she just glanced out the window again. Her voice was distant when she said, “I thought today we could just meditate.”

“Right,” Axel said. “What’s wrong?”

But she didn’t answer him.

“Helloooo?” He snapped his fingers. “Anybody in there?”

There was no response.

Axel realized that his hand was still on her shoulder and dropped both of them to his sides, taking the time to examine her uninterrupted. He was a spy; he was trained to notice things. Like her sallow cheeks and tired eyes. Like her slumped shoulders and her deep frown. Like the way her throat fluttered as she swallowed back words or tears or maybe both.

He thought back to the last time he’d seen her for answers and realized that something must have happened with Sora. As far as he knew, besides this, Kairi had nothing else going on.

Hesitating for only a moment, Axel reached out to touch her cheek this time, pulling back the second she jumped in surprise. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion when she noticed that he was still standing there.

“When did you get here?” she asked, and that was too much.

“What happened with Sora?” he deadpanned.

The way Kairi’s head drew back as if she’d been slapped almost made him regret it, but her gaze was focused on him for the first time since he’d stepped into the room. For that alone, it was worth it. He felt that way straight up until her eyes grew bright with unshed tears and then he just felt like an asshole.

“Uh—”

“ _Shit_.” She turned her back on him, her hands flying to her face, her shoulders tense. “Shit. Sorry, I’m – I don’t know what’s – Can you just leave please?”

Her voice cracked on the word “please,” and in that moment Axel couldn’t think of anywhere else he’d rather be. He approached her the way one would a startled deer, and, instead of running or tensing, she slumped her shoulders in defeat. And by the time he had looped around the desk to face her, he could hear her crying silently, her breathing shaky and weak.

Axel had only ever seen Kairi cry once before. Even back then, he had never wanted to see it again.

“Hey,” he said gently, giving up on catching Kairi’s gaze when she refused to lift her head. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but can I at least…” He trailed off awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. “I don’t know. Hold you? Or something? You look like you need—”

Axel faltered when Kairi just stared at him with her face streaked with tears. He was about to apologize for being presumptuous when she took two halting steps forward and folded herself against his chest, her entire body shaking. He carefully closed his arms around her, rubbing her back in what he hoped was a comforting kind of way. It had been years since anyone had come to him for this kind of thing, and he was severely out of practice.

Below the scent of salt and sadness, Kairi smelled like powder and flowers. Her head barely came up to his shoulder, even with the inches she gained from the heels of her boots, but the silken strands of her hair were brushing against his skin every time she exhaled. She was so soft, so _fragile_ , and he couldn’t even complete the thought without laughing internally, because Kairi was a girl filled with so much fire and drive that even now fragile was the last word that truly described her. Whatever had happened, she would bounce back. He knew that. He just had to make sure she knew it, too.

He had no idea how much time had passed before her sobs finally tapered off, her trembles evened out, and his shirt was no longer being dampened with fresh tears. Even after her breathing had calmed, however, Kairi made no attempt to step out of the circle of Axel’s arms and he made no attempt to let her go just yet.

Then he realized that her forehead felt warm against his collarbone, and there was more than one reason she might not want him to look at her face right now.

“Hey, don’t be embarrassed,” he said. “It’s always good to know you’re human and not just, you know, as stubborn as you are short.”

Kairi laughed, sharp and sudden, and moved away. Her face was blotchy both from the blush and from the crying, but a certain sparkle had returned to her eyes that Axel hadn’t realized that he’d missed until it was gone. She reached up to wipe at her cheeks with the back of her hand. “I don’t know why I’m still like this. It’s been two weeks already.”

“Two weeks since what?”

Kairi sniffled several times before Axel started going through the drawers of Yen Sid’s desk until he found a clean cloth for her to blow her nose with. “Ugh. It’s stupid. It’s just – Sora’s in love with Riku. And I’m happy for them. Really, I am! Riku’s been in love with him for years, and I’m so, so happy for him. I – with the crying, I just.” She gestured tiredly toward her own face. “So stupid.”

Axel frowned at everything she _wasn’t_ saying. “At the risk of making you cry again… how long have _you_ been in love with Sora?”

Kairi laughed wetly. “I mean… since I met him? Am I that obvious?”

“It does take a special kind of person to claim to be happy about something that made them cry for ten minutes…”

Her cheeks reddened again, but this time she scowled in familiar annoyance. “I told you to leave. You’re the one who chose to hang around like—”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Axel waved a hand dismissively, then leaned against the desk. “Like I said, you don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to. But sometimes…” He took a moment to try and think of the best way to phrase what he’d been wanting to say for a while. “Sometimes, you don’t smile with your eyes, Kairi. Sometimes, you smile like it’s killing you. And it doesn’t have to be me. I get why you wouldn’t want it to be me. But I want you to have someone you can talk to. You should only ever smile because you’re happy.”

Kairi’s lips parted in surprise as a silence stretched taut between them. The color in her cheeks deepened and then she shook her head, scowling once more.

“Okay, I’ve had it about up to here with your hot-cold on-off _bullshit_ ,” she snapped, her hands on her hips. “You clearly don’t hate me, so what’s your _problem_? If you want me to be honest with you, then it’s about time you’re finally honest with me, don’t you think?”

And that was… fair. That was what he’d been expecting when he’d first walked in here, in fact. Even though a fist seemed to grip his heart and squeeze at the memories, Axel knew that she had a point. All his excuses fell away, leaving only the truth. If it would dispel the cloud of sadness that seemed to hover over her, then he could at least give her that much.

“All right.” Now it was his turn to look out the window as if that would help him avoid this conversation. “The thing is… you remind me of someone. Someone I lost. And when I say you remind me of her, I literally mean that if you cut and dyed your hair, and were maybe a few inches shorter and a lot tanner…”

Kairi’s expression softened. “Who was she?”

“Xion.” The name slipped from his lips so effortlessly that Axel’s eyes widened. It had been years, _years_ , since he’d said her name, and now that he could, he didn’t want to stop. “Her name was Xion, and she was – she was my best friend. And now she’s—”

The words clogged in his throat. Axel grimaced through a sudden tidal wave of pain, memories as sharp as knives flying through his head. He breathed around the ache until he could use his voice again. “She’s gone, and sometimes looking at you, it just… it hurts. So it’s easier not to, no matter what I have to say to make that happen. I’m sorry.”

Kairi didn’t say anything, leaving Axel at the mercy of his thoughts. He usually tried so hard not to think of her, but for once he allowed Xion’s face to come to mind. Her bright blue eyes and pointed chin. Her midnight hair, perpetually unevenly cut, and her tiny pin nose. Her obsession with collecting seashells from different beaches and her love for sea-salt ice cream. At the last memory, the pain became too much again and he promptly pushed her from his mind.

Careful fingers brushed his cheek, which he realized for the first time was damp with tears he didn’t remember crying. Axel looked down to see Kairi staring at him with kind eyes. “ _I’m_ sorry that you lost her. I know how that feels, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. But Axel,” Her voice was firm, “I’m _not_ her. And you’re letting how much you miss her make you miss out on how awesome _I_ am, and that’s just unfair to both of us.”

Axel was surprised into laughing, and then laughed harder when Kairi dissolved into giggles as well. If his laugh had more of a hysterical edge to it, she was kind enough not to mention it.

She patted his cheek once before withdrawing her hand. “There, now. Isn’t that better?”

It wasn’t, not by a long shot, but Axel did feel for the first time in a long time like maybe it could be. And just that feeling of lightness, of getting to talk about Xion even if it was only briefly, strengthened his resolve.

“Let’s cancel the lesson for today,” he said, reaching up to wipe the rest of the tears off his face. “I want to show you something.”

  


 

The thing that Axel wanted to show her turned out to be a view.

Kairi was back in Disney Town for the first time since her date with Sora, but instead of wandering around Main Plaza, Axel took her through the door to the Raceway. Not to the track, where multicolored cars sped past in the hopes of winning the big munny prize, but to the grass-tipped cliffs that overlooked it.

They sat atop the tallest one, from which Kairi could see the Raceway enclosed by the blue and gold fence, the striped tents at the registration entrance, the basket-less hot air balloons that hung suspended among the clouds, and the wide expanse of blue sky above it all. The castle hovered in the distance like a beacon, and Royal Guards patrolled the area below in carefully timed shifts arranged by Captains Goofy and Terra.

“Oh,” Axel said suddenly. Kairi looked over to see him holding one of two light blue ice cream bars out toward her. Where he’d gotten them from, she had no idea. “Here you go.”

She took it, eyebrows lifted. “Ice cream? Really?”

“Seems appropriate for the kind of conversation we’re about to have.” He bit into his a second later, gazing out at the sun dipping behind the castle. “Roxas and I used to do this a lot after I met him in Twilight Town. But we’re done talking about me.”

“We’re not done talking about you,” Kairi corrected. “I’ve been trying to get you to talk about you for weeks, and we are _not_ done.”

“Yeah, yeah. But you and Sora.”

Kairi winced. Part of her had been hoping he had forgotten at some point during the long trip here, or at least that he would let her keep her dignity by not mentioning that she’d basically blubbered all over him. She blew out a long sigh. “I feel kind of dumb. With everything going on, I’m upset about a _boy_.”

“Sora’s not just a boy,” Axel pointed out. “He’s your best friend. You guys spend all your time together, so he’s as much a part of your life as breathing. There are… certain _differences_ between your feelings for Sora and my feelings for Roxas, I’ll admit.” He chuckled. “But if I lost Roxas? I’d cry like I was dying, too, probably.”

Kairi’s cheeks flamed at the exaggeration – or at least she hoped it was an exaggeration – but the rest of her felt oddly settled. Oddly… understood. And it was that more than anything else that spurred her to haltingly tell Axel what had happened, her eyes drifting toward Main Plaza as if she could see the Celebration Tavern from here.

“I’m trying so hard to be happy for them. And part of me really is. They’re my best friends, and they’re so… You’ve seen them together. You know how they are. No one’s going to love Sora more or treat Sora better than Riku would, so if it couldn’t be me, I’m glad it’s him. But I…” Her eyebrows drew together, gaze falling to her lap as she forced out the rest of what was on her mind. “I guess I just thought Sora and I would just happen eventually. I thought that was my… my place? I thought Riku was Sora’s best friend, and I was Sora’s love, and we’d both be important and we’d both belong. But if Riku’s both – and he is, he’s both – then what am I? Who am I? Where do I fit in? Did I ever really fit in?” She clenched her eyes shut tight as if that would stop her from crying again. “I feel fucking irrelevant, is the thing. I told you it’s dumb.”

Something cold hit her ankle and she remembered that she was holding an ice cream bar. She opened her eyes and brought it to her mouth to have something to do. Sea-salt. Just like in Radiant Garden. The tangy sweetness tasted strange together after so long, but the more she ate, the more she remembered how much she liked it.

Axel made a thoughtful sound. “Don’t take this the wrong way but… It kinda sounds to me like you’re not that upset about Sora not loving you back so much as you are upset because you were defining yourself by the hope that he’d love you.” He held up a hand before Kairi could protest. “No, come on, look. I’m not saying heartbreak’s not part of it. But did you think Sora and Riku only hang out with you because they thought you were going to date one of them? Yeah, sure, Riku is Sora’s best friend – but so are you. Your relationship with both of them was never going to be exactly the same as their relationship with each other no matter what because you’re you. You bring something different to the table.”

“Like what?” Kairi asked before she could stop herself. “My selfless ability to make their grand love story about me?”

Axel snorted. “You? Considering how hardheaded you are, I’d be stunned – stunned! – if you’ve done anything but smile around everyone up until now.”

“But I’m not _really_ —”

“You’re a human being, Kairi. You _don’t_ have to be happy about everything all the time. Especially not in front of _me_. I’m not going to think any less of you. And, even if I did, be honest. If you weren’t teaching me, would you give a shit what I thought of you at all?”

Kairi laughed. “Well. No.”

“There you go.” He took another bite of his ice cream and avoided her eyes. “As for what you’re bringing to the table, I can’t really say because I don’t know anything about your friend group. But just going off what I know about you alone, you’re… charming. Genuinely kind. Brave as hell, whip smart, and a tongue sharp enough to cut diamonds. You’re loyal and caring and selfless to the point of sheer idiocy. You have no idea how hard I have to work not to like you. It’s exhausting.”

Kairi found herself laughing again, even though her eyes were tearing up from hearing someone other than her grandmother talk about her so positively. Suddenly, she was back in her bedroom with Riku, seeing the sincerity in his eyes as he said, _“You are exactly as dedicated and hardworking and fierce a teacher as Axel needs. That’s the kind of person you’ve always been anyway.”_

She really _was_ an idiot. Riku and Sora were her friends. Her _best_ friends. Sora didn’t have to love her for her to have a place by his side, by both of their sides. And, yes, it hurt that he hadn’t chosen her, but while she may have lost what could have been, she would never lose what had always existed: two true friends who would do anything for her, and who she would do anything for in return.

“Thank you,” she finally said, reaching up to wipe away the fresh tears that had tumbled down her cheek. “I think you’re right. I have been defining myself by Sora a little, and I shouldn’t. I’m me, and I’m great, and I need to stop _crying_ all the time.”

“Cry all you want, princess. Ain’t no one up here to see you but me.”

Kairi smiled at him, her smile widening when Axel rubbed the back of his neck in a way that she could only describe as flustered. “You’re sweet, Axel.”

“Nah…” he muttered. But he was smiling, too.

A silence fell between them that was comfortable, for once, the contentment of cleared air and mended bridges. She didn’t want to ruin it by dragging his issues back into the light, but she made a mental note to pry more into this Xion girl later. Something about that felt important, even if she’d never heard Axel mention that name before in her life. He had helped her so much that she wanted to help him too, somehow.

She also made a note to pry into the time that they’d met before. She still couldn’t remember it, but, for a moment, her body had. When he’d asked to hold her, when his arms had wrapped around her, she had felt… safe. In a kind of bones-deep, familiar way that made her feel like they had stood that way before. That weird déjà vu had a thousand questions attached to it, and she wouldn’t be Kairi if she didn’t ask them all.

But those were tasks for later.

Right now, she didn’t want to worry about the past. Right now, the wind was blowing through her hair and the sun was shining on her skin. Right now, there was nothing she’d rather be doing than sitting with Axel like this, watching the sun set over the roar of the Raceway car engines and sharing a sea-salt ice cream that tasted more like a promise.

  


 

Shortly after Sora took Princess Anna back to Arendelle, five of the Six New Lights descended on Disney Castle like a spring rain.

Riku stood at the entrance to the Courtyard as they arrived in a parade, Sora and Cid and their numerous guards behind them. His parents stood on either side of him, and he could practically feel the concern wafting off of both of them. And it was justified. This was it. The culmination of weeks of rapid planning, the world’s biggest chance for survival, and the sealing of his future.

Mickey and Minnie still had various people following various leads, he knew, in the hopes of a solution that would prevent Riku from promising himself to one of these women at the end of the weekend. But Riku had accepted his fate.

He was ready.

The Princesses came to a stop about a yard away. Goofy stepped into the empty space between Riku and them, his shoulders thrown back.

“Introducin’ His Royal Highness, Prince Riku of the House of Mouse, heir to the throne of Disney Castle!”

All of the Princesses curtsied in turn except for Queen Elsa. Instead, Riku bowed to her first. According to his research, she outranked him, and even in his own kingdom it was proper etiquette for him to defer to her before she to him.

“And introducin’ His Royal Majesty, King Consort Mickey, and Her Royal Majesty, Queen Regnant Minnie, of the House of Mouse!”

His parents performed their own bows and then the other guards stepped forward to introduce their sovereigns: Queen Elsa of Arendelle, Princess Merida of DunBroch, Princess Rapunzel of the Kingdom of Corona, Chief Moana, and, finally, Tiana, who held no royal title and whose guard was an alligator with what appeared to be a trumpet in his hand.

The lengthy moment gave Riku’s stomach enough time to clench in a fit of nervousness. Once introductions were out of the way, he was supposed to give a welcome address. But as he looked out at the sea of women whose power could make or break his country, he faltered.

What was he _doing_? Better yet, why did he think he could do what he was doing?

Riku had never loved _anyone_ the way he loved Sora. He’d never even been interested in anyone but Sora. The closest he’d come to having other romantic entanglements was the memorable four months that a sixteen-year-old Selphie had spent convinced that she was in love with him. Everything he’d said to her, according to Kairi, had been proof of his endless devotion, and everything he’d done had been cast as somehow romantic in the ongoing movie of her life. Eventually, he’d sat Selphie down and explained, as kindly as he could, that she didn’t have a shot in hell.

Then there had been his first and only date. He’d come upon Sora and Kairi watching the sunset on one of the hedges outside, their voices floating down to him in affectionate rumbles, and convinced himself that surely this would be the moment when Sora looked at her and realized that this was love. In that head space, he had impulsively asked Ventus out to dinner, because he kind of reminded Riku of Sora sometimes. The only reason he didn’t still feel guilty about it now was that Ventus hadn’t even realized that was supposed to be a date.

Neither experience gave Riku much confidence in the area of romance. He hadn’t even been able to kiss _Sora_ without injuring them both. How was he supposed to make a Princess of Heart fall in love with him in three days?

A flash of movement dragged him out of his grim thoughts. It was Sora’s head, bobbing above the crowd of Princesses as he probably jumped up and down to compensate for his lack of height. Every time his face appeared, he was making a different one. His tongue was sticking out. Then his eyes were crossed. Then his nose was wrinkled like a pig’s. The Princesses around him looked amused by the display, though they seemed to be trying to hide it.

Riku bit the inside of his cheek to keep from bursting into laughter. And suddenly, the words where there where he needed them. “Welcome and thank you for coming to Disney Castle for the first – and hopefully only – Diamond Ball.” A smattering of laughter followed this statement, giving him more confidence. “We’ve made no secret of the fact that ours is a kingdom on the edge of destruction, and thus this engagement ball means more than most. Now more than ever, it’s important for the light to stand united against the darkness that threatens us all. It’s my sincerest hope that among you I may find a woman that I can see myself spending the rest of my life with. But I also hope that, by the end of this weekend, we can build an alliance that will strengthen both, if not all, of our kingdoms against the enemies at our doors.”

He took a step back, sweeping an arm out toward the castle. “The Guards will show you to your rooms, where you’ll have a few hours to settle in and get comfortable. You’ll also receive visits from the Royal Magician in that time as well. I’ll see you again for the welcome dinner tonight. Again, thank you for coming, and I look forward to getting to know each and every one of you.”

Applause followed the end of his speech, some of it polite, some of it enthusiastic. The latter didn’t entirely come from his parents and friends, either. Princess Rapunzel was clapping in what seemed to be genuine delight. He gave her a hesitant smile and the way she beamed back chipped away at some of his nervousness. Maybe he _could_ do this.

The Princesses and their guards filed past him to follow the Royal Guards to their rooms, but Riku lingered as the Courtyard began to clear out. His parents hovered as well, but he gave them a reassuring smile until they headed into the castle. Kairi approached him once everyone else had gone, a half-smile on her face.

“That was really good!” she said. “I thought you zoned out for a minute there, beforehand.”

“I did,” Riku admitted. “This is already nothing like I thought it would be.”

Kairi’s smile turned sympathetic. “I get that. Planning something like this really isn’t the same as living it, huh? But you’ve got a couple of hours before the dinner. Maybe you should go and clear your head.”

Almost instinctively, Riku’s eyes found Sora, who was standing with his arms folded behind his head as he cheerfully responded to something that Cid was saying. Sora didn’t look his way, but Riku felt a burst of affection anyway, one that was entirely out of place during this, the opening of his _engagement ball_.

“Yeah,” Kairi said, and now there was something in her voice that made Riku turn to her with a frown. “You should definitely go clear your head.”

Before he could ask what it was that he was picking up on, she was jogging toward the entrance of the castle. His frown deepened as he tried to think back to the last few times he’d seen Kairi and whether or not anything had seemed off with her then. But he couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen her or much of anyone but Sora, really. He’d been too busy getting everything together for this.

“Hey.”

He blinked to see Sora now standing in front of him. In the distance, Cid ambled back toward the Gummi Hangar, giving them as much privacy as two people could have in the open Courtyard. Sora was worrying his bottom lip with his teeth, and Riku tried not to watch that too closely with five potential brides waiting for him inside the castle.

“So, this is it, huh?” Sora smiled, but it was a brief flash, as fleeting as lightning. “I’m going to try and stay out of your way this weekend so you can…” He made a vague gesture that Riku assumed was meant to indicate marriage. “You know.”

Riku’s heart skipped a beat. “You don’t have to—”

“Yeah, I do.” Sora gave him a look. “You know I do.”

Even though he knew Sora was right, his mind wasted a full thirty seconds trying to come up with a way that he and Sora could spend time together while Riku was trying to woo five women and without ignoring those women for Sora. He felt ridiculous by the time he finally came up with nothing. Ridiculous and upset, because he’d done this to himself. All because he hadn’t been able to imagine for a second that Sora might like him, too.

“I’ll miss you,” he said at last. “But it’s only for a couple of days.”

Sora’s smile trembled at the edges. “Yeah.”

Riku's eyes narrowed as Sora glanced rapidly around the Courtyard and then yanked him under the shade of the hedge shaped like a pig playing the piano. But before he could say a word, Sora had him up against the leaves, kissing him hard and fierce.

Riku couldn’t help the guttural sound he made any more than he could stop his arms from locking around Sora’s waist, pulling him flush against Riku’s body. Sora responded by tracing the seam of Riku’s mouth with his tongue until Riku’s lips parted and he could slide between them. It was only their second kiss and already Sora seemed to have learned from what felt good the first time, rolling his tongue over Riku’s in a way that felt so good that Riku’s entire body lit up like a furnace. His grip tightened on Sora’s waist and then Sora went up on his toes to nibble his way along Riku’s jaw and Riku’s hands slid down to his ass inadvertently.

Sora reached back, encouraging him to squeeze, and then moaned into Riku’s mouth when he did.

Riku swallowed and tilted his head back against the hedge, shaking. “ _Sora_.”

At the sound of his name, Sora pulled back as suddenly as he’d started, pecking Riku one more time on the lips before stepping away completely. When Riku looked down, Sora was panting, his eyes wild and dark. “I think about this all the time. That’s…” He took another step back, wiping a hand over his face. “That’s the other reason I’ve got to stay away from you this weekend. If I don’t—”

“Shut up,” Riku groaned. “Just stop talking. Don’t even look at me.”

Sora laughed, a rough, breathless thing, and turned around. Riku imagined Sora was doing the same thing he was doing, which was thinking of any of a number of disgusting or depressing things that would force his body to get itself back under control. Without Sora’s eyes on him, the radiant blue nearly swallowed by the black of his pupils, it was easier. Not by much, but enough.

With a long sigh, he pushed himself away from the hedge.

“It’s not because you’re hot or whatever,” Sora said before Riku could even try to find the words to encapsulate how sorry he was for this whole situation. “You _are_. But I lo – I really like you. You get that, right? I like you so much, Riku. I just didn’t know before.”

When Riku had occasionally dreamed about hearing those words, it had happened under much better circumstances. Even so, the confirmation that Sora liked him – something he had never dared to hope for but was lucky enough to receive anyway – struck him stupid and silent for a long time before he managed to respond, “I get that. Yeah. I – You know how I feel already. But I have to… The Diamond Ball is…”

“I know. I told you I’m not going to stand in the way of that.” Sora’s eyes were bright with determination and something else, something Riku couldn’t put a name to. “But things are changing and I can’t let them without you knowing how _I_ feel.”

The echo of his words from a month ago made Riku want to curl into a ball on the floor for a few hours. Instead, he reached out to cup Sora’s cheek, his thumb caressing the soft skin there, and then forced himself to let go. Step back. Be strong.

“I’ll see you in a couple of days,” he promised.

“In a couple of days,” Sora said with a small smile.

Riku took one last look at his best friend, at Sora’s sun-tanned skin, his coffee brown hair, his sapphire eyes, and that smile that Riku would start wars to protect. Then he walked away.

  


 

Sora entered the library like a burglar, almost melting in relief when he didn’t see Umiko anywhere. He hadn’t spent a whole lot of time in the library since Leon had finished homeschooling him and assigning more homework than Sora felt any secondary school teacher actually would. But he was on a mission now and had lots of free time to himself since he wouldn’t have the option of hanging out with Riku for the rest of the weekend.

The only other signs of life in the library were the enchanted brooms cleaning up, and they didn’t even have eyes. Still, Sora avoided them as he hurried past the bookcases until he reached the S section and then slid down the row, pausing every few minutes to listen for footsteps. Every single nerve in his body was on high alert, his cheeks going red even before he saw the shelf labeled SEX/SEXUALITY.

 _It’s okay to be curious,_ he told himself when his feet became rooted to the floor, preventing him from getting close enough to see any of the book titles. _It’s perfectly natural. It doesn’t mean you’re going to do anything right now. Or at all. It’s just important to know your… options._

He had a general idea, from when Leon had given him the Talk after the first time Leon had caught him frantically doing a single load of laundry at the crack of dawn. Since Sora had never so much as had a crush, Leon had given him the Talk three different ways – boy, girl, other – with the addition of a _My Body and Me_ book and a roll of condoms that Sora had stuffed in the back of his wardrobe. They were probably still there, unless the enchanted brooms that cleaned his room had found them, and thank goodness the brooms couldn’t talk.

So, yeah, he had a general idea. But a general idea had certainly not prepared him for the way his body reacted to the first time Riku had kissed him, let alone the second time. A general idea had certainly not prepared him for the way he spent his nights trapped in terrifying visions of losing Riku and his days unable to stop thinking about the little sound that Riku made when Sora’s teeth sank into his bottom lip. A general idea had certainly not prepared him for loving someone so much that you wanted them all. The. Time.

He took a deep breath and stumbled forward the rest of the way to the shelf, reading over the titles in the surprisingly large section, his face getting redder and redder. Finally, he decided on one just called _The Ultimate Guide to Gay Sex_ and took it off the shelf, considering the best way to get it to his room without anyone – especially Leon – catching him with it.

Then he turned and nearly ran headlong into a princess.

Sora screamed.

“Whoa!”

The next few seconds were a blur, but one minute he had flung himself back against the bookshelf and the next he was on the ground, his fingers a few inches shy of grabbing the book that had flown out of his hands. Princess Rapunzel picked it up instead, her brown eyebrows rising slowly when she saw the title. Sora considered the idea that this was another nightmare.

He actively wished this was another nightmare.

He begged the universe to reveal that this was another nightmare.

But no matter how much he blinked, Princess Rapunzel was still standing there, pink-cheeked, _The Ultimate Guide to Gay Sex_ dangling from between two of her fingers as she held it out to him.

Her smile was heavy with sympathy. “I believe this is yours?”

Sora had to try several times to get his arm to work enough to snatch the book back. He shoved it back into its place on the shelf and then counted to ten until his mortification eased enough for him to say: “H-Hi, Your Highness. I thought – Shouldn’t you be in your room?”

“Well, yes, but—” Rapunzel sighed, running one hand through her short brown bob. “I spent my whole _life_ in a room. I wanted to explore a little before dinner! And one of the guards said you had a library, and I _love_ to read, so I thought…”

“Oh, right,” Sora said, turning around at last. He remembered from Riku’s files that Rapunzel had been kidnapped as a baby and trapped in a high, one-room tower until she was rescued and returned to her parents. No wonder she’d chafed at the idea of staying in her room here, even if it was just until Donald and Umiko could see her. “Well, I can show you around the library if you want! I’m not doing anything—” He stuttered as he remembered what exactly she’d just caught him doing. “—um, important. Nothing that matters, anyway.”

Rapunzel beamed. “That would be wonderful, thank you!”

Much like Princess Anna, Princess Rapunzel was a talker. However, where Anna had tripped over her words, like they’d come out ahead of her and she had to rein them back in again, Rapunzel spoke with exuberance, like there was so much to say and so little time to say it in. She wasn’t even wearing shoes, as if she’d been in that much of a hurry to get out and explore. It wasn’t long before she was making Sora laugh with a story about charming a bunch of friendly men in a bar called The Snuggly Duckling with a song about dreams, and he was making her promise to take him to see the lanterns that took to the sky every year on her birthday.

They did a circuit around the library, during which she managed to collect no less than ten books to take back to her room as if she’d have time to read them all in three days. He didn’t stop her, though. Instead, he took the top four and juggled them, which made her clap excitedly – dropping every single book in the process. Sora laughed so hard that he dropped his own books, which only made both of them laugh harder.

It was when they’d finished cleaning up the mess that they heard the library doors open. Sora’s heart stopped at the sound of Riku’s familiar voice.

“—a disaster,” Riku was mumbling. “Why didn’t you stop me?”

“Calm down.” That was Kairi. Sora brought a finger to his mouth to keep Rapunzel quiet and then they both crept forward enough to peer through the stacks. Riku was standing with one hand covering his face while Kairi stood in front of him. “It’s already going well! There’s nothing to freak out about.”

“How am I supposed to court these women, Kairi? I’ve never courted anyone before in my life.”

“Just – I don’t know! Flirt with them.”

“ _Flirt?_ ” Riku sounded like she’d asked him to streak naked through town.

Beside him, Rapunzel shook with silent laughter. Sora knew the right thing to do in this situation would be to alert his friends to their presence, especially since he was with someone that Riku wanted to impress. But he also knew that the woman who felt for Riku needed to _know_ Riku, and this was a side of Riku that only his friends ever got to see. The man who doubted, who was sometimes awkward, sometimes harsh, and yet always doing his best. This was the Riku that Sora had fallen in love with, and Rapunzel deserved the chance to fall in love with him, too.

“Let’s practice.” Kairi gazed up at Riku with a smirk. “Say something flirty to me.”

Riku groaned like he was in pain. “You’re not helping.”

“Pretend I’m a Princess,” Kairi said, her voice thick with repressed laughter. “Flirt with me.”

Now Riku was laughing, which only set Kairi off. The sight of the two of them standing there, laughing so hard that they had to lean against each other to stay upright, made Sora smile so wide that his cheeks began to hurt. He loved Riku’s laugh, he realized suddenly. It was so open and boyish and _real_. And, wow, he had it bad, to be noticing a thing like that right now.

Once Riku had himself under some semblance of control, he looked down at Kairi with a faux serious expression and said, “Um… You look beautiful tonight?”

“Thank you, my lord,” Kairi replied, twining a lock of hair around her finger. “And thank you again for inviting me here, though I wish it were under better circumstances.”

“Um, well… the circumstances might not be ideal, but, you know… at least the company is.”

Kairi giggled. “‘You know’? Are you Rai all of a sudden?”

“I _told_ you I’m not good at this.”

But Riku was laughing again, and Sora just loved him _so much_. He tore his eyes away from Riku to look at Rapunzel only to find the princess already looking at him with a strange expression on her face. Something about it made him anxious, as if she had seen more than he had meant for her to see. But instead of saying anything, she tilted her head toward the doors on the other side of the library, and the two of them snuck out.

“Thanks, Sora,” Rapunzel said once they’d walked far enough away that Riku and Kairi couldn’t possibly hear them. “I don’t really have a lot of friends yet in the Kingdom of Corona, but you made me feel right at home.”

Sora grinned. “Find me after dinner and I’ll teach you how to juggle, too.”

To his surprise, she stepped into his space to kiss his cheek, a sweet touch that still managed to make him blush. “He’s lucky to have you,” she said before running off back to her room.

Her words made his heart ache. Sora lingered there long after her footsteps had faded, his face still burning for more reasons than one.

  


 

“All right, let’s try this again,” Kairi said. “Flirt with me.”

Once they had finally managed to stop laughing, they had decided that this would be an exercise better done sitting down. She had found them a table deep in the stacks so they couldn’t be seen or heard from the doors if Umiko decided to come back. Riku still looked like she was torturing him slowly and he was too nice to say anything to stop her, but that was all right. If he couldn’t flirt with her, his best friend, then he was probably going to strike out with the actual Princesses, and they both knew that.

Besides, she liked that he had sought her out with barely concealed panic in his eyes and asked for her help. Not that she wanted him to be panicking, of course. But her insecurities were like a chained beast lately that nearly got loose every time she saw the way Riku and Sora looked at each other. Nothing had changed between the three of them that she could tell, but there was still a little voice that whispered “yet” every time she started to relax.

Riku sighed after a long, thoughtful moment. “I don’t know what to say to you.”

The idea came to her easily, more easily than she would have thought it would. Her smile was even genuine as she suggested. “Pretend I’m Sora then.”

Now Riku was making a face. “I don’t flirt with Sora.”

Kairi snorted.

“What? I don’t.”

“Hey, Sora,” she said in a deep voice, as close an approximation to Riku’s voice as she could make it. She tossed her hair back from her face and smirked the way Riku did sometimes. “Wanna spar? I promise to go easy on you. But not _too_ easy. Can’t have you getting cocky on me.”

“That,” Riku sputtered. “Is not flirting. That’s – we – how is _that_ flirting?”

Kairi arched an eyebrow, but the longer she stared at him, the more apparent it became that Riku was genuinely unaware of how he got when Sora was in the room. Was it a boy thing or was it a Riku thing, to be this oblivious? She wanted to laugh, but she didn’t want him to think that she was laughing at him. Really, it was more that she wanted to laugh at herself. She felt like she tried very hard to be flirty and cute around Sora, and he had never once noticed. Meanwhile, Riku apparently didn’t know how _not_ to flirt with Sora, and now Sora was in love with him.

More proof that she’d never had a chance.

“Okay, fine,” she relented. “But just talk to them like they’re Sora, and, trust me, you’ll be flirting.”

Riku was no longer meeting her eyes, which was fine. It was expected. Kairi had come to realize that Sora hadn’t told her what was going on between him and Riku because it wouldn’t occur to him to talk to her about that kind of thing after two decades of never thinking about it. But Kairi and Riku hadn’t talked about Sora like _that_ since their early teens, with a pinky promise pact that their friendship would survive the weird hell that was having a crush on the same guy. The awkward air that had now settled between them made it clear that one more conversation was necessary, though, and that Kairi was the one who was going to have to start it. Riku would rather chew off his own foot than talk about feelings.

She folded her hands atop the table so they wouldn’t tremble. “So, you and Sora. Dating yet?”

“Um.” Guilt flashed across his face, quick and sharp. But, unlike Sora, he didn’t try to pretend he didn’t know what she was talking about. “No. We – He knows. That I love him. And he likes me, at least, so that’s… Do we have to talk about this?”

“I think we do,” Kairi murmured, giving him a tired smile when he finally met her gaze. “Don’t you?”

Riku swallowed, but then nodded. The way he squared his shoulders remindered her of how he’d been when they had gone to battle against the heartless invading Disney Castle, like he was bracing himself for the worst but hoping for the best. She hoped that it was their pact, their _friendship_ , that was giving him that positive strength. Because she knew in that moment that there was nothing he could say or reveal that would make her love him any less. Not when he respected her enough to face her with honesty.

She listened intently as he recounted the war council that had started it all, his conversation with Sephiroth, his confession to Sora. The weeks she hadn’t noticed them avoiding each other because she’d thought nothing of Riku being busy planning the Diamond Ball. The kiss. The nightmares. The second kiss and Sora’s confession from an hour ago. Riku’s cheeks were pink when he finished, but he looked so happy that the part of Kairi that was happy for them grew larger in response. She had never seen Riku look so cheerful and comfortable in his own skin. It was a good look on him.

And, yes, Kairi was jealous, too, but that was okay. As Axel had reminded her, she was a human being, and one made up of more complicated emotions than just the positive ones. No one could think less of her for that.

“I’m sorry,” Riku was saying now, wariness in his voice and expression. “I didn’t… I never wanted to hurt you, Kairi.”

“You didn’t!” Kairi shook her head. “Don’t think of it like that. I don’t love Sora _to_ hurt you. I love Sora because I can’t _help_ it. If I could love Sora and _not_ hurt you, I would. Because I love you, too. And that’s how it is for you, right?”

“Yeah. Yeah, of course.” Riku’s eyebrows drew together. “I don’t know that I could or even would be as, um. As graceful about it as you’re being, though. I feel like I’d be a little shit for months if I had to watch you two together.”

“You _were_ a little shit for months. Remember when we were like fourteen, fifteen?”

Riku laughed bashfully. At fifteen, Riku had been a ball of anger and resentment. If Kairi and Sora had so much as looked at each other, he’d had something mocking to say and then something even more mocking to retort if Sora argued with him. Kairi had been better, but not by much. She’d tried several times to talk to Sora about how Riku had changed and, after one particularly long day, had even suggested that they just take the gummi ship and fly off together, just the two of them.

That bad behavior on both of their parts had done absolutely nothing to stop Sora from thinking the sun shined out of Riku’s ass. Another early sign.

Kairi gave a bashful laugh of her own, shaking away the memories of her less than stellar past. “Well, neither of us was really great. And I’m not saying that it doesn’t hurt to know that he doesn’t love me. But you guys are my best friends. The part of me that’s hurt is always going to matter less to me than the part of me that wants you to be happy. So.” She reached over and slapped him on the arm. “Why the hell are you still getting married if you know Sora likes you, you idiot?”

“ _Ow_ ,” Riku said, rubbing his bicep even though it had felt like a rock beneath her fingers. “Last time I checked, Disney Castle is still in danger. Not exactly the time to prioritize a stupid crush.”

“It’s not a stupid crush. You love him. And I’d be genuinely floored if he didn’t love you, too. He’s _obsessed_ with you.”

Riku snorted. “How do you figure?”

“He didn’t tell you?” At Riku’s blank look, Kairi shook her head. _Boys_.

It was embarrassing to tell the story of how she and Sora met a second time, knowing now that she and Sora had interpreted it in two such completely different ways. But she couldn’t have these two idiot boys messing up their potential relationship already.

When she finished, Riku’s eyes were wide, and he was looking at her like he’d never seen a girl before. “Sora lost his heart? He never said anything.”

“I just told you he didn’t even remember—”

“ _That’s_ why. Oh my god, it makes sense.” At her bewildered expression, Riku explained, “Sora told me once that he could hear them. The heartless. He can hear them _talking_ when they attack. Leon always thought maybe it was trauma from being alone on the dying Islands for so long, especially since he had all those nightmares, but…”

“Oh, _no_.” Kairi’s stomach twisted with worry. She couldn’t imagine what that must have been like for Sora, to not only be able to hear the heartless as if they were still people but to have to kill them anyway. “That’s – what?”

Because Riku was still looking at her with that same floored expression on his face.

“It’s you,” he said slowly, cheeks pale. A strange part of Kairi suddenly wanted him to stop talking because she could tell that whatever he was about to say would change everything. “You saved Sora. You brought him back from the darkness. It must be you. The seventh Princess of Heart.”

Kairi laughed. “Yeah, right.”

“Oh, sunlight.” They both jumped and whirled around to see Umiko standing there, leaning against one of the shelves. A deep frown was on her face, her eyes dark with sympathy, and Kairi knew then, without a doubt, that Riku had been right. “I was hoping to protect you from this just a little while longer.”

“I’m…?” She blinked, swallowing past a sudden lump in her throat. “But then how – Radiant Garden – even Disney Castle – I—”

“Come on,” Riku said gently, laying a hand on her arm. The contact steadied her when it felt somehow like her entire world was trying to fracture apart. Again. “We should go see my dad before dinner. I’m sure we’ll have some answers then.”

  


 

“Report,” Cloud said as he walked into the meeting room. And then he stopped short, because Ventus, Zack, and Sephiroth had their weapons trained on an unconscious prisoner who looked very, very familiar. “Is that—?”

“Pete,” Aerith confirmed, closing the door behind him. “We apprehended him at the Raceway.”

Cloud frowned down at Pete, who was dressed in a black, purple, and neon red monstrosity with a flowing purple cape. “What was he doing at the Raceway?”

“Competing,” said Zack with a snort. “Under the alias Captain Dark.”

Cloud’s frown deepened. Surely no one could need munny badly enough to be that dumb, especially no one who worked for Maleficent. And yet there Pete was, breathing quietly, seeming even more harmless than Cloud had been expecting when Pete wasn’t awake to sneer at anyone.

“Did you have a chance to question him?” he asked next, pulling Buster Sword off his back. The fact that everyone present felt the need to have a weapon trained on Pete made him feel more comfortable with his own in hand. After all, for all they knew, Maleficent had some kind of magical trace on him and could show up at any second. “Did he at least have an excuse for being there?”

“Honestly, no.” Sephiroth rolled his eyes. “We stopped the race to pull him from the crowd of competitors, and he insisted that he was Captain Dark and had never heard of anyone named Pete. When we unmasked him, he tried to run.”

“He had those weird heartless with him again,” Ventus added. “And the Cornerstone didn’t stop him from being able to summon them to fight for him.”

Cloud’s stomach sank. They had had at least one Princess of Heart in the Castle consistently since the Cornerstone had failed the first time. Had the world only been safe because Maleficent hadn’t _wanted_ to attack them yet? Or was the Cornerstone now so weak that it only protected the castle itself from attack even with five of the seven Princesses in town?

Either way, Leon was _not_ going to be happy.

He ran his free hand through his hair. “Right. Anything else I need to know?”

“We also found this when we searched him,” Aerith said, handing him a crumpled piece of paper. The expression on her face made his stomach sink even further, but he kept his own blank as he unfolded the sheet.

“‘Much time has passed since I left the home of my youth behind, and in the myriad worlds I have since visited, I have gained much knowledge,’” Cloud read. “‘On these pages, I intend to record a portion of that knowledge, and put the course of my life to paper…’” A sudden, unpleasant spark of realization hit him, as unwelcome as a spider in a kitchen. “Wait, is this—?”

“Yes,” said Aerith. “It’s a page from the Xehanort Reports.”

Xehanort was one of the most notorious Keyblade Masters in history. He had become fascinated – _obsessed_ – with the concepts of light and darkness, and his experimentation to understand the balance between them had been recounted in the Xehanort Reports. The knowledge contained within them was rumored to be so dangerous that the late Master Eraqus had scattered the pages throughout the worlds himself. After the Land of Departure had fallen to darkness, the Black Coats had collected several of them over the years, but many more were still lost.

And now Pete had been found with a page. The very first page, if Cloud wasn’t mistaken.

Leon _really_ wasn’t going to be happy.

He looked up from the crumpled paper at Ventus, who was already looking at him. Ventus had been taught by Master Xehanort as a small child and by Master Eraqus as a teen, and he so rarely spoke about his past that Cloud had always figured that some things were too painful to mention. But the resigned expression on Ventus’ face was enough for Cloud to feel comfortable giving his next orders.

“We need to call a war council meeting,” he said, sliding the Report into his pocket. “You guys lock Pete in the dungeons and make sure at least one person has eyes on him at all time. Ventus?” He gave the younger man a sympathetic look. “You’re with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Ultimate Guide to Gay Sex isn't a real book, but it IS a subtitle to a real book that Sora also wouldn't want a princess to catch him reading. Oh, well.
> 
> The next chapter will be posted on Sunday, April 28th, as I am going out of the country.


	6. Chemistry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warning:** If you are, for whatever reason, reading this fic but are _not_ interested in Sora finally succeeding in his ongoing quest to get dicked down, you can stop reading this chapter after the line "He surged forward and had Sora on his back in seconds." 
> 
> You won't miss anything after that but about 2K of truly gratuitous smut, I promise.

Kairi could barely hear anything over her own heartbeat.

Riku was a comforting presence beside her, his hand holding hers beneath the table, but even the presence of her friend wasn’t enough to quell her shock. _She_ was a Princess of Heart. She was a _Princess of Heart_ , and her grandmother had _known_ all this time. The _king_ had known. Who else had known? She couldn’t bring herself to meet anyone’s eyes to check.

When the three of them had found the king, he had already been looking for Umiko to join an emergency war council meeting – one to which Kairi had promptly been invited. The war room was unfamiliar to her outside of Riku’s recaps of the meetings held there. It was white-walled and sterile, with a long table, a keyboard, and a projected screen. Wooden chairs surrounded the table, which had dewy jugs of water ringed by plastic cups at each end. On the far wall was a giant map of the Oceans Between, populated with numerous worlds. Gold, forest green, and pitch black pins stuck into each world in the map identified whether or not it was in danger of, or had already, fallen to darkness. Beside that map was another, smaller one of Disney Castle and Disney Town. She had no idea what the pins on that one were for.

The midnight pin that marked Radiant Garden seemed to mock her.

While they waited for the king and queen to arrive with the others, Kairi went over what she knew about Ventus, who looked sickly pale where he sat across the table between Master Terra and Master Aqua. He was Axel’s age, born in Twilight Town two years before Roxas. He had arrived in Disney Castle not with Roxas but with Terra and Aqua. Roxas had come later, with Axel, Pence, Hayner, and Olette. There was something else about the way he had arrived or perhaps about their reunion that Kairi strained to remember, but arranging even those facts brought her some measure of calm.

And kept her mind off her grandmother, who hovered despondently near the door.

Her grandmother, who had known.

The doors finally swung open and King Mickey and Queen Minnie entered, trailed by Donald, Captain Goofy, Cid, and Spymaster Leon. The latter dropped into the chair beside his fiancé – and, Kairi’s mind suddenly reminded her now, of all times, that she needed to get them a congratulatory present – as everyone else grabbed the nearest seat. Queen Minnie ended up on Riku’s other side while King Mickey took his place at the head of the table.

“Thank you for your patience,” the king said. “I know it goes without saying, but what we are about to share is so critical to our war effort that it absolutely _cannot_ leave this room.” He paused, and Kairi looked up to see his eyes catching on her and Riku. It took her a moment to realize he assumed one or both of them would tell Sora everything. It took her another moment to get over her surprise at the fact that she was actually glad that Sora wasn’t here. “With approved exceptions, of course.”

Umiko, now sitting between Aqua and Cid, tucked a lock of silver hair behind her ear. “That you have all been in the dark to this point is my fault. When I agreed to live here and join the king’s household with my granddaughter, I made certain decisions and extracted certain promises to keep her safe. I can’t say that I wouldn’t make the same choices all over again, but it’s time you all learned the truth.”

“Kairi is the seventh Princess of Heart, the one that Maleficent never found.” Was that pity in King Mickey’s eyes? “She was, in fact, the first Princess of Heart we identified because of the Xehanort Reports.”

Kairi frowned at Riku, but his face was equally bewildered. The name tugged on a faint string of memory, maybe something she had read or had learned in her lessons with Master Yen Sid, but that was all.

Cloud removed a crinkled paper from his pocket and handed it to the king, who passed it around. “As I told His Majesty, the Black Coats apprehended Pete at the Raceway and he’s currently under guard in the dungeons. He was carrying the first page of the Xehanort Reports with him, which leads me to believe that Maleficent might possess one or perhaps even all of the pages that we haven’t collected. Master Eraqus ensured that there was no public record of everything the Reports contain, but the pages we have are… disturbing, to say the least.”

When the paper made its way to Kairi, she read it twice, but it was nothing more than an introduction. Master Xehanort had left his world and made his home in another, just like her. He had found someone he felt as close to as a brother, just like her. He had wondered about the true nature and power of the keyblade – not like her, but not unusual for those who went on to become Masters, she supposed. She passed the Report page on, no closer to understanding than before.

“There are twelve pages in the Report,” the king continued when the paper had made its way back to him. “We have collected enough of them to know that Xehanort was a fanatic who was obsessed with experimenting with ways to tear down the ‘tyranny of light’ and create a new world where darkness and light would live in equilibrium. To that end, he studied the keyblade, the Princesses of Heart, and the nature of the heart itself, in the hopes of finding a way to loose enough darkness on the world to beat back the light. After he was defeated by Master Eraqus, his work was taken to its natural conclusion by Maleficent, who opened the Door to Darkness and caused the worlds to fall one by one.” King Mickey bowed his head. “Many of us knew _of_ Xehanort, or had met him a couple of times, but we didn’t know… Well. I’ll let Ven take it from here.”

The blonde seemed to steel himself under the weight of the eyes that were now upon him. Aqua placed her hand on his shoulder, and Terra’s hand already rested on his other one. They looked like human shields ready to take on the entire war council if it meant keeping him safe. Kairi, her hand still tucked into Riku’s, hoped Ventus felt the same sense of comfort.

“When I was… I don't remember how young,” Ventus began haltingly. “My parents divorced and my dad moved us to Radiant Garden for a fresh start while my mom stayed in Twilight Town with Roxas. I never saw my mom again, and when I saw Roxas…” His lips twisted into a pained smile. “Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself. It’s all twisted up in my head.”

“Take your time,” Cid, of all people, said in a gentle tone. “Everyone here has been haunted by loss. We understand this isn’t easy for you.”

Ventus’ eyes were dull, clinging to the table as he continued in a monotone. Radiant Garden, he said, was hosting a famous Keyblade Master named Xehanort. Ventus’ father had taken him to listen to Master Xehanort’s public lectures, and Xehanort had seen the potential for Ventus to be trained as an apprentice keyblade wielder. But Xehanort hadn’t wanted an apprentice. He’d wanted a test subject.

Ventus’ voice still didn’t change as he described what he could remember of the horrors that he’d subsequently experienced: The grueling hours of training to summon different kinds of keyblades. The sharp words and the endless isolation when he couldn’t perform to Xehanort’s expectations. The hopelessness and the anxiety that built with every passing day as he realized he would never see his father again.

Kairi’s heart broke for him.

The doors opened again and suddenly Axel was there, striding into the room with Saïx behind him. Kairi sat up in her seat, craning her head to get a good look at him. He was back in his black coat, broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted, and she’d gotten so used to seeing him in his battle clothes that the sight of him in the coat felt weird. Like she’d stepped back into a past where they were nothing to each other.

“Sorry, we’re late,” Axel said, leaning against the wall by the door with his arms folded. “We were offworld when Chip and Dale got a hold of us.”

Saïx said nothing, his lips thinning when he took in the room. _We were friends when we were younger, actually,_ Kairi remembered Axel saying as she noted the large gap between where he and Saïx had chosen to stand. She would never have guessed they’d been close at all.

Axel’s eyebrows lifted when he caught sight of Ventus. “Hey, Ven. I didn’t know _you_ were on the war council.”

“I’m not,” Ventus replied, a smile on his face and color returning to his cheeks. “I’m just here to dive into my traumatic childhood memories.”

“Sounds like a party.”

Kairi giggled despite herself. Axel’s eyes found her next and he looked surprised for all of a second before his face melted back into his usual insouciance.

“Well, don’t let us stop you,” he said. “Carry on with it.”

The faint smile remained on Ventus’ face as he finished his story. “Well, those days are pretty much the last ones I remember before I woke up in the Land of Departure with no memories. I didn’t even remember I had a family or a brother until I saw Roxas again here and a couple of things have come back to me in pieces since. The rest I just looked up or overheard.”

Something flickered in his expression, something that made Kairi believe he wasn’t being quite honest. But she didn’t think it was the time or the place to call him on that. Whatever he didn’t want to remember had to be worse than what he was describing, and what he was describing had already made cold claws of dread sink into her stomach.

“I can fill in some blanks, which I assume is why we’re here.” Axel waved as the attention of the room flew to him. “So, me and Saïx were always exploring around Radiant Garden. We tripped over Ven not a few years after he came to town. I think we were about seven?”

“Six,” Saïx supplied.

“Right, right. Anyway, we met him in town and he was in school with us, so we made friends with him. But then he just stopped coming to school. And when we stopped by his house, his father was gone even though all their stuff was still there. It was a mystery, and we were all about that.” Axel cut Ventus a glance that was heavy with regret. “We never found out what happened to his dad, but we did find him. And her.”

Kairi tensed when he looked at her. “Find us where?”

“At the castle.” It was Saïx who spoke. “Everyone in Radiant Garden knew you. Your grandmother was Ansem the Wise’s seneschal, and thus you were his ward – essentially the closest thing we had to a princess. At least, until Master Xehanort… well.”

“What happened?” Kairi asked, her voice flat and numb. Riku squeezed her hand reassuringly, but she hardly felt it. “I need to know what happened.” She met Ventus’ gaze, saw him nod. “We both need to know, so someone had better start talking.”

Axel, still leaning against the wall, found a piece of the floor to focus on instead of looking at anyone. “Saïx and I had been sneaking into the castle since we were old enough to sneak into places. So even if Ven hadn’t gone missing right around the time some big shot Keyblade Master moved to town, we would have checked there first.”

If there was one thing to be said about Axel, it was that he was a good storyteller. Kairi could almost see it happen as he described the way he and Saïx had broken in through the basement, where they followed the sound of crying toward a mysterious light. The light and the sobs had led them to a room with a reinforced steel door. For some reason, the door was propped open just enough for them to see Ventus and a second boy lying motionless underneath white sheets while their hearts floated over their bodies.

“I don’t know what he did with his keyblade, but the hearts… changed. One was brighter than anything I’d seen before the light that led us there. The other one was pitch black. That last one went into the kid I didn’t recognize, and he started screaming like he was in pain. And the first one went into Ven and he just… went still. As still as death. And that’s when the old man brought her out.” His green eyes flicked back to Kairi at last. There was an apology in them. “Kairi couldn’t have been more than four years old, and she looked… weak. But the light we’d seen, it was coming from her. From her chest. Like it was trying to manifest something, I don’t know. Whatever it was, it didn’t have a chance to happen before Xehanort reached a hand into Kairi’s body somehow and pulled out the light.”

Kairi gasped as her chest exploded with phantom pain, her mind triggered into a series of memories long forgotten. Nightmare images that hadn't made sense when she was young solidified with the maturity and knowledge she had now to form a narrative of sorts. The way she’d sensed the wrongness in the castle, but had been unable to put it into words with her juvenile vocabulary. The way she’d followed that sense to the basement and watched an old man cut a young boy’s stick – weapon, keyblade – in half, only to scoff when the young boy collapsed before him.

 _“Weak,”_ he’d muttered. _“How can I make you stronger?”_ Then those golden eyes had pierced her, a rictus grin spreading on the man’s monstrous face. Xehanort’s face. _“Of course. The Princess of Heart. Come here, child.”_

The way she’d tried to run, but had been frozen in place by magic or by fear or both. The way just being around him had made her sick, like he was radiating pure darkness. The way he’d used her, her power, to keep Ventus alive when his heart proved too weak to survive without its darkness. The way she’d felt her energy drain out of her like blood, like air, like something vital but replaceable with time she had thought she wouldn’t have.

The very first time she had thought that she would die.

“When Kairi collapsed, we burst into the room screaming,” Axel continued. “We should have moved before then, but we were – I mean, that was scary shit, right? We were just _kids_ and the only adult we could see was clearly hurting those other kids and it took us a minute to… to process that. But I created a distraction and Saïx tried to get them all out. The other kid was closest to the door, so he did that first. And I grabbed Kairi off the floor and whirled around but Xehanort was gone. Him and Ven both.”

Her patchwork memories faded as soon as they had come, leaving her reeling. She remembered almost nothing of anything that Axel had just described – perhaps she'd been too weak by then, after Xehanort was done with her – but all of her instincts said it was true. He had held her in the Tower like someone who had done it before, and she had walked into his arms like someone who knew they would be safe there. Her body remembered what her mind didn’t.

There was a heavy silence that followed until Axel broke it with a wry smile. “On the upside, they never kicked us out of the castle again. Not that it mattered, oh, three years later, but…”

“Most of those experiments were recorded in the Xehanort Reports,” King Mickey said. “He theorized that a second way to open a Door to Darkness was to have a heart of pure light and a heart of pure darkness clash with each other. Kairi was too young for his purposes and none of the other Princesses were potential keyblade wielders, so he decided to create his own Princess of Heart and Seeker of Darkness by separating someone from their darkness and from their light.”

“So, wait,” said Riku. “Does that mean Radiant Garden eventually fell because Master Xehanort gave Kairi’s power to Ven? And, if so, does that mean that… Ven is the seventh Princess of Heart?”

“I think you mean Prince,” Ventus said. And then his eyes widened as he thought about it. “Also, _no_. No way.”

Umiko made a sympathetic sound. “Well, kind of. Like His Majesty said, you’re the result of the only known attempt to _create_ a Princess of Heart. Your heart is made of pure light – your own and _some_ of Kairi’s. Each of you has half of the power of the original keyblade of worlds that gives the Princess of Heart their abilities. Which means that each of you is only mildly stronger than the average keyblade wielder.”

Kairi’s head spun as she tried to make sense of all of this new information. “So, my training with Master Yen Sid…”

“He’s been studying and encouraging your light magic all these years as he trained you.” King Mickey shook his head sadly. “But to this day, he hasn’t been able to figure out a way to undo what’s been done to you without harming Ven. Your light magic _is_ extremely powerful, like I said. But it’s nowhere on the level of where it should be to place you on the same level as the other Princesses. At least, not yet.”

That meant that it wasn’t impossible. And it was this, more than anything else, that kept Kairi stone-faced in the war room, her heart hardened against the weight of the trauma that wanted to sweep her under. The faded memories still clung to the back of her mind, as insistent as a heartbeat, but they were dimmed by the vast amount of time that had passed, that vast amount of grief she had experienced since then. That had not been the last time she had thought she would die, and Master Xehanort felt more like an amorphous bogeyman than a real person who had hurt her.

It hurt more that her grandmother had not thought her strong enough to handle all of this. Kairi was loathe to prove her right.

Besides, beneath it all, she felt a pulse of relief. That the fall of Radiant Garden had not been her fault. That the potential fall of Disney Castle would not be her fault. Xehanort had ruined not only her life, not only Ventus’ life, but the lives of everyone in every world that had fallen to darkness because of his sick obsession. And while he was no longer alive to answer for those sins, there was still Maleficent out there continuing his dark work. Maybe, if Kairi helped to stop her, they could all finally heal.

She didn’t need to be a fully powered Princess of Heart, just like she didn’t need Sora to love her and just like she didn’t need to be special. She was Kairi, and these were her friends, and this was her home after Maleficent had taken away her first one. She would protect them and avenge it. Because that was who _she_ was and that was what _she_ wanted. Nothing else mattered.

“I’ve got to go or I’m going to be late for dinner.” Riku stood and then paused, leaning over her in concern. “Are you okay? Do you still need me?”

Her resolve wavered at the idea of having to face the rest of this conversation alone. “Please.”

Riku sat back down without another word and wrapped an arm around her shoulders to ground her. And it was selfish, she knew it was selfish, but, as she leaned against his side and matched her breathing to his, she felt her resolve strengthen once more. She could do this alone, she knew she could, but the whole point of having friends was so she didn’t have to if she didn’t want to.

Riku whispered something to his mother, who subsequently got up to leave the room, but he stayed and he held Kairi like there was nowhere else he’d rather be.

Kairi squared her shoulders and looked back at the king. “So, what is Maleficent doing with the Xehanort Reports, and does it have anything to do with me and Ventus?”

King Mickey met her determined expression with his one of his own. “That’s exactly what we’ve got to figure out.”

 

 

Sora was in the Gummi Hangar when Queen Minnie found him.

As much as he loved his job, he didn’t usually spend this much time at it. Cid, Chip, and Dale were practically a three-person Gummi Fan Club, but Sora had fallen in with them more out of a love for seeing other worlds whenever he wanted to than for a love of the ships themselves. But the Hangar seemed like the safest place to be, where he wouldn’t run into Riku or another one of the Princesses, and it gave him something to do with his hands besides imagine putting them all over Riku’s body.

Or at least, since he was going to imagine that anyway, he could be productive at the same time.

“Hello, Sora,” said the queen, bringing that train of thought to a screeching halt by leaning down to peer under the gummi block he was currently working on. “Are you busy? I need a big favor.”

“Is it even legal to be too busy to help the queen?” Sora joked, sliding his pallet out. As he stood, he tried very hard to look like someone who had never kissed her son. She probably couldn't tell by looking at him… Probably. “What’s up, Your Majesty?”

“I need you get cleaned up and come with me to the welcome dinner. I can explain, but I’ll have to do it on the way because we have about ten minutes.”

And that was how Sora found himself wearing another set of casual clothes – denim skinny jeans and a black hoodie shirt with a red crown on the front – and following the queen to the banquet hall. She hadn’t told him what had happened to make Riku too busy for his own engagement weekend, but he knew it had to be serious for Riku to duck out on his responsibilities. Sora nerves were trying to get the better of him, but at least he already knew one of the Princesses. Besides, as Minnie had pointed out, if there was anyone who could talk Riku up to people even when his behavior seemed rude, it was Sora.

They opened the double doors to find the Princesses all seated and talking amongst themselves. A silence blanketed the room as they entered, Yuffie and Tifa at their backs. While Yuffie and Tifa took their places by the door, Queen Minnie walked to the head of the table with Sora beside her. Rapunzel wiggled her fingers at him in a wave. He returned it, smiling.

“Thank you for joining us tonight, and for working with our Royal Magician and Royal Archivist to try and find a way to boost Disney Castle’s defenses. I’m sorry that our efforts have so far been in vain,” Minnie said after Sora helped her to stand on her chair. “I’m also sorry to say that my son cannot make it to dinner tonight, as a pressing personal issue has come up requiring his attention. Instead, I’ll be joining you, as will Sora.” He tried not to flinch when she gestured toward him. “After all, as Riku’s mother and Riku’s best friend respectively, it’s important that anyone the prince chooses to marry meets with our approval, and that we meet with theirs. In addition, schedules permitting, we will be altering the plans for the weekend. To maximize his time with all of you, tomorrow’s masquerade ball will be moved to the day after, and it is there that my son will announce his choice of bride. Is that acceptable to all of you?”

Murmurs of ascent went up around the room. Which Sora supposed made sense. It was only a few additional hours – and maybe they were all like Rapunzel, eager for the time to explore a brand new world.

Minnie smiled. “We thank you for your understanding during this sudden change in plans, and we hope that you enjoy your meal.”

Sora realized that the only empty chair was not next to Queen Minnie but instead between Princess Merida and Queen Elsa and hurried that way. It felt like he was causing a diplomatic incident already, even if no one seemed to be judging him but himself. He wondered how Riku managed to walk through life with this much pressure on him all the time.

Thinking of Riku made Sora smile, relaxing him enough to dig into the food that was placed in front of him. The steak was decorated with three pink shrimp, blanketed by thick-cut fries and a mini-salad drizzled in ranch sauce. He’d have to be sure to bring Riku some later, so he didn’t miss out on the fruits of his labor.

“Sora, right?” said Merida from beside him in a thick brogue. “Nice to meet you, Sora. I have a question, while you’re here.”

He made sure to swallow his mouthful of food first. “I have an answer, I hope.”

“So,” Merida leaned forward, her cascade of red curls almost obscuring her face. “How long’ve you and the prince been banging?”

Sora choked on his own spit.

On his other side, Elsa giggled. “Very subtle, Merida.”

“ _They_ weren’t, so why should I be?” the princess asked bluntly. “I’m supposing that answers my question, though. Not _yet_.”

Sora’s entire life seemed to flash before his eyes. “When did—How did—”

It hadn’t seemed like Princess Rapunzel was going to tell anyone what she suspected, but what if she had? Or, worse, what if she hadn’t, and Sora had just been that transparent about his feelings for Riku? The Princesses had only arrived a few hours ago. How could he have ruined this for Riku already? He had practically given his word to stay out of the way, to let Riku do what he had to do to save Disney Castle, and he had already failed. Though he knew Riku wouldn't be angry with him for anything, that made it worse. If Riku were anyone else, and if Sora were anyone else, Riku _would_ be mad. And he _should_ be mad. Sora deserved it.

“Hey! Hey, you need to breathe.” That was Elsa’s voice, cutting through his panic. The queen’s hands were on his shoulders and she was watching him with concerned blue eyes. “Really, Merida didn’t mean that to sound like an attack. It’s all right. I think it’s beautiful.”

“I—You—?” Sora blinked. “But you’re here to marry Riku. That’s the whole point.”

“I don’t think any of us were expecting to fall in love this weekend.” Elsa released him and sat back in her chair. “It would be nice if it happened, but we came because Disney Castle needed us. And _I_ came because two of my enemy territories, the Southern Isles and Weselton, have united with a treaty that my advisors suspect may be a prelude to war. Disney Castle’s forces would be a boon to Arendelle if this marriage pans out.”

“And I sure as shit don’t want to fall in love with anybody,” Merida added, blowing her curls off her face and then adjusting the bodice of her jade green dress. “DunBroch is under threat of war from the other clans _again_ , and certain actions of mine guaranteed that an alliance with any of the leaders’ sons is out of the question. Having an ally like Disney Castle would keep them from getting uppity, and outsourcing my husband would mean I’d never actually have to see him if I didn’t want to.”

Moana, across the table, leaned forward with an apologetic expression. “I also came because Motonui needs Disney Castle. We’re wayfinders who travel from island to island, but the heartless are an unrelenting enemy in some lands. We have no formal army or navy or anything. Just warriors willing to give their lives to protect the weak and the young. We need more soldiers.”

Beside her, Rapunzel admitted that she had been seeing someone in the Kingdom of Corona, who abandoned her with a letter explaining that he didn’t want to hold her back in her new life as a member of royalty. Her presence for the Diamond Ball was her way of trying to be the princess that her people never had… even though she still wasn’t quite over Eugene. And, finally, Tiana revealed that she had been married – before 21, no less! – to a man named Naveen, who had helped her run her restaurant, Tiana’s Palace. But their relationship had fizzled with time, and Tiana had realized she’d never gotten the chance to go adventuring on her own and figure out what else _she_ wanted. And if she got to scout out Disney Castle for a potential second location of Tiana’s Palace during the Diamond Ball, well, that would be great, too.

Sora knew that he should probably be upset that none of these women were actually eager to fall in love with Riku for any reason but practicality, or at least indifferent since that had never truly been what the Diamond Ball was about. But more than anything he was relieved by the confirmation that he wouldn’t lose Riku so quickly.

He glanced at Queen Minnie, but she was in conversation with one of Merida’s guards while Louis, the trumpet-playing alligator that Tiana had brought with her, did what he did best to keep them all entertained. She didn’t appear to have heard what the Princesses had confessed, but she could also be pretending. The table wasn’t _that_ big.

Rapunzel followed his gaze and then lowered her voice even further to ask, “So, _are_ you and the prince together?”

“Oh, um, no,” Sora said. His face was flushed, and this seemed to amuse the women because they all hid smiles as best they could – which was to say not very well. “We’ve just been best friends our whole lives. I didn’t – why did you guys—?”

“During the welcome speech,” Elsa said. “Before Riku spoke, he looked cold. Distant. But when you started making those faces, it was like he became a completely different person.”

“I don’t have much experience with romance, but I know love when I see it. My parents are in love,” Merida added. “And that man loves the fuck out of you.”

Rapunzel met Sora’s eyes. It was only when he nodded that she spoke. “And you love him, too. The way you looked at him in the library today. It was like no one else existed. It was lovely.” She reached up to lay a hand over her chest. “Eugene used to look at me like that. I’d kill to have him do it again.” She paused. “Not _literally_ , but…”

Tiana rested a comforting hand on Rapunzel’s shoulder as the other Princesses murmured encouragements. Sora stuffed a piece of steak into his mouth to give his cheeks time to cool, but he couldn’t keep the smile off his face.

“I do love him,” he finally admitted. “He doesn’t know it yet, but I do. He’s…” There were so many ways to describe Riku, as a human being, as a friend, as the man that Sora loved, that it was hard to decide how to start. “Riku is the best person I know. He’s my favorite person. He’d do anything for his friends. _Anything_. But he’s so humble about it. He remembers more of the bad about what he does than the good, and he’ll try to take less credit than he deserves if you let him. He can be a little reserved, too, but he’s got such a great heart. And he’s one of the most talented people in the world. They haven’t invented something that Riku can’t pick up easily enough. Even when we were younger, he was always the mature one who got us out of the trouble I got us into. I always knew that as long as Riku was there, everything would be all right…”

The Princesses, he noticed, were hanging on his every word. Some, like Rapunzel and Moana, were watching him with wide, sparkling eyes. Some, like Tiana and Elsa, were smiling softly like they were staring at kittens in a basket. Even Merida, who could give Axel a run for his money in seeming indifferent, was watching him out of the corner of her eye with rapt attention.

Sora rubbed the corner of his nose. “Even if it’s not love, you couldn’t do better than Riku. He’ll do anything for you and your kingdoms. That’s just who he is.”

“Like I said,” Rapunzel said into the dreamy silence that followed. “He’s lucky to have you, Sora.”

“Tell us stories about him,” Merida grinned. “Since he’s not here for us to get to know, tell us your favorite stories.”

Sora could talk about Riku all day, so he regaled the Princesses with stories from Disney Castle and Destiny Islands. The day he and Riku found the Secret Place and Riku showed him the groaning sound from within didn’t come from an angry cave ghost. The day he got his gummi pilot license and immediately took Riku to the Oceans Between to do donuts around asteroids. Riku’s twenty-first birthday, when he and Kairi had gotten Riku so drunk that he’d thought it was a good idea to take a bath in the fountain in Main Plaza. Every story led to another story – from him, or from the Princesses about their own adventures and families – until he completely lost track of the time.

So it was more than a little surprising when the doors swung open and Riku hurried in with Goofy and Terra behind him. He looked dismayed at all the empty plates. “Sorry, I—”

“Pull up a chair, my lord prince,” Merida said, waving him over even though there were no empty seats at the table. At least until Queen Elsa waved her hands and created one between Tiana and Rapunzel in a swirl of ice. “Sora was about to tell us about the time he got you arrested in Disney Town.”

“Was he now,” Riku said, lifting his eyebrows. “Was he also going to tell you that he cried?”

“ _Manly tears_ , Riku! Manly tears of _war_!”

Riku took off his jacket and laid it over the ice chair to protect his body from the cold as he sank into it, chuckling along with the Princesses’ laughter. He seemed more comfortable and confident than he’d been earlier that day, and surely it wasn’t too much for Sora to think it was his presence that made Riku feel that way?

“Let me tell it,” he said as someone placed a plate down in front of him. “He’s probably been lying to you, so I want to set the record straight.”

 

 

Sephiroth had volunteered for the night shift for three reasons.

The first reason was that he was used to unrelenting work, trained to keep his body going and his mind focused long after anyone else would have given up. In Olympus, none but Hercules had been his contemporary as a warrior. That hadn’t changed just because Olympus was no more. The second reason was that he liked the quiet solitude of an overnight shift. The castle was a different beast during the midnight hours, and Sephiroth found the pure dark stillness strangely soothing.

And the third reason was standing in front of Pete’s jail cell as Sephiroth descended the stairs, yawning so widely that he swore he heard Cloud’s jaw crack.

Whenever there were shifts to be taken, Cloud usually volunteered to take the twilight one. It prevented any of the Black Coats from having to work late and it frequently kept him working late enough that Leon would have wrapped up even the trickiest project by the time he finished. Frequently but not always; between Pete’s capture and the emergency war council meeting that had wrapped a few hours ago, Sephiroth imagined that Leon’s work hours would once again tip toward the offensive. Even with his ring on Cloud’s finger.

The ring glinted in the low lamplight as Cloud paused with his hand still hovering over his mouth. “Oh, hey. Right on time.”

“Quiet evening?”

“Not since _he_ woke up.” Cloud rolled his eyes, tilting his head back toward the cell. “He hasn’t shut up all day about how we’ve got the wrong guy and,” His nostrils flared, the way they did when he was repressing his irritation. Sephiroth had seen it a thousand times. “He just wouldn’t shut up.”

“Sounds like you’ve had a long shift,” Sephiroth said, holding out the extra cup of Ebony coffee that he’d brought with him. “I thought you might need this.”

Cloud took it, inhaling the scent of coffee beans and heated milk. “Thank you.”

The genuine gratitude in the words was worlds apart from the disdainful dismissals Sephiroth usually received for his attempts to care for Cloud. Admittedly, those attempts had not been entirely altruistic, but it still pleased him to see Cloud taking their renewed friendship as seriously as Sephiroth did. He hadn’t managed to find the moral fortitude to wish Cloud congratulations on his engagement yet, but he had at least graduated from brandishing the little things he could do for Cloud as a weapon in a war against Leon that he was the only one fighting.

Progress.

“This is real cute and everything,” Pete drawled from behind the bars of the cell. “But I’m tellin’ ya that you’ve got the wrong guy. How about lettin’ me go?”

“You’ve yet to answer any of our questions,” Cloud said with one golden eyebrow raised.

“Oh, right. Well, then I suggest you two have a spring wedding. I love a good pastel.”

“Funny,” Cloud deadpanned at the same time that Sephiroth said, “We’re not the ones getting married.”

Pete ignored Cloud entirely, his wide, dark eyes peering at Sephiroth from between the bars with a hint of smugness. “Shame.”

“On that note,” Cloud said, throwing a suspicious look at the cat before turning back to Sephiroth. “I’m going to head out. Unless you need anything…?”

In the years since their breakup, Sephiroth had received a hard lesson in the difference between need and want. He thought he’d needed Cloud, but after Cloud left life went on and was still going on. He still wanted Cloud, still missed the way that life made sense when he was with Cloud, still wished the stupid ring that seemed to glow from Cloud’s finger was his own. But he didn’t need him.

And, for this friendship to work, he would have to stop wanting him, too.

He drudged up a smile. “I’m sure I’ll be fine. Have a good night, captain.”

“You, too.”

With that, Cloud was gone. That was about as positive as their interactions ever got these days, but there was a steady camaraderie building back up between them. Sephiroth didn’t think he was alone in that feeling. Perhaps they really could be friends again – true friends, without the interloper of requited or unrequited feelings.

He took his place before Pete’s cell with a hopeful heart.

“So, who’s the lucky guy?” Pete asked, leaning forward. “The guy who’s gonna be walkin’ your lover down the aisle?”

Sephiroth ignored him.

“Working with your ex must be rough. I can tell from all the longing looks and scent of sadness.” Pete’s eyebrows drew together sympathetically. “If you let me go, I could probably help you get him back.”

Sephiroth held in a laugh.

“You know what your problem is, don’t you?” Pete continued. “The thing about love is you’ve gotta be tough with ‘em. Keep ‘em in line. If you keep ‘em under your thumb, they'll never end up in the gutter.”

Sephiroth picked a section of the wall to focus on. Whatever rise Pete was hoping to get out of him would not happen. He understood now why Cloud had been so relieved for his shift to be over, if Pete had been talking like this all day.

“Fine, be that way,” the cat said at last. “I’m just sayin’ he’d probably respect you if you were stronger. And nothing makes you stronger than the darkness.”

There was moisture damage caked into the bricks of the wall, eroding the mortar that held them together. Every time Pete fell quiet, the silence of the dungeon pressed in on them like a physical weight, heavy and ominous. Which made sense. The dungeons between Disney Castle were not well-used, as the king and queen were not in the habit of keeping prisoners – at least not so close to where they slept.

Pete scoffed. “Maleficent was wrong about you. I don’t know why I’m wastin’ my time.”

At this, Sephiroth turned. Finally, they were getting somewhere. “What exactly did Maleficent say?”

“Oh, _now_ you wanna talk?”

His hand drifted down to Masamune at his hip. “The conversation will only be as pleasant as you want to make it.”

“Hey, listen, I’m just the messenger, okay?” The cat wisely took a step back from the bars, holding up both his hands. “She thought you’d be interested in her offer.”

“ _What_ offer?”

“P-Power.”

Sephiroth frowned, but no matter how he turned over the words over in his mind, he couldn’t understand why Maleficent thought he, of all people, would be interested in this message. Or in anything that she thought she had to give him. “Keep talking. And try to make some sense when you do.”

 

 

When Axel stepped out of his room at dawn, Kairi was standing there with her fist lifted, poised to knock, already fully dressed despite the early hour. He hadn’t been expecting her, and so nearly drew his keyblade on her before he realized who it was. Saïx was waiting on him to return to their mission. Axel was really going to hear it if he was any later than he was.

“Sup, princess?” he greeted, closing his door behind him. “Can we walk and talk?”

To his surprise, even after yesterday, Kairi didn’t flinch from the term. Then again, he wasn’t _that_ surprised. Kairi hardly flinched from anything. She fell into step beside him, fidgeting. “I just wanted to say… Thank you. For saving me back then.”

“I wasn’t trying to save you,” Axel pointed out. “I was trying to save Ven. You were more of an accident. And I didn’t _really_ save you. He still—”

Kairi stopped him with a hand on his wrist. That same hand, small and soft, slid up his arm, over the swell of his bicep, to what she could reach of his shoulder. He turned toward her, swallowing, to find her crooning a finger at him. When he leaned down, her hand traced a warm path along the side of his neck to cup his cheek.

Axel realized he wasn’t breathing and sharply inhaled. Kairi’s eyes were like indigo ink, dark and pure. “Don’t do that. Don’t try to be an asshole about it. Whether you came for me or not, I could have died if not for you.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” he said, voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t want you to feel like—”

“You don’t get to control how I feel,” she murmured back. “But I definitely don’t feel like I owe you anything. I’m just saying thank you.”

 _Then what’s this?_ Axel wanted to ask, but he bit his tongue. Kairi’s eyes were passing over him, a slow swipe that made his skin tingle in high alert, and he didn’t want her to stop. The half of him that wasn’t frozen in place was swearing passionately. While he’d never met a bad idea he didn’t like, this would be the worst of them all.

“You’re welcome,” he finally said, straightening so that her hand fell away. “If there’s nothing else, I’ve really got to get back to my mission.”

Kairi blinked as if awakening from a dream, her hand still hovering near his body before she snatched it away. “Oh, right, um. Just – if you knew I was a Princess of Heart this whole time, why didn’t you ever tell me? I find it hard to believe that _you_ feel any loyalty to my grandmother.”

“I mean, that wasn’t up to me. But…” There was no point in trying to lie to her, and, in this moment, no reason not to just tell her the truth. “When I saw you again, after anything, I thought you deserved the chance to be Kairi before you had to worry about trying to be anyone or anything else.” He tossed her a smile. “I can already see you worrying about it, and it hasn’t even been a day yet.”

“Shut up,” she said with a small smile of her own. “This is kind of a huge part of ‘being Kairi’, don’t you think?”

“Not really. You made it twenty years without it. At this point, you’re fitting being a Princess of Heart into who you already are, not the other way around.” Axel stopped walking for a moment, paused. “Don’t lose yourself, okay? I just got used to how annoying you are.”

Kairi laughed. “Yeah, I like you, too.” Her voice was almost bashful as she continued, “Good luck on your mission. When do you come back?”

“When it’s done.”

“Well, when’s it done, I’ll be here.” She clasped her hands behind her back, rocking on her heels with a bright smile. “I know you don’t need my help with the keyblade anymore, but maybe we can just hang out? You know, like friends?”

“Friends,” he echoed, shaking his head with a breath of a laugh. “What a concept. I’ll see you later, Kairi.”

“Bye!”

Axel started walking again, and this time he didn’t hear the patter of her trailing behind him. He realized two staircases later that he was still smiling and tried to school his expression back to stoic indifference before Saïx caught sight of him and accused him of making light of the mission. They were nearly done, anyway, and Axel was already resolved to wrap this one up as quickly as he could.

He could probably use the rest that being back in Disney Castle would provide.

 

 

Sora spent most of the next day trying not to think about Riku. It didn’t work. At all.

He’d become a liability in the Hangar, drifting off in the middle of installing new gummi blocks and pacing underneath the clock as if that would make the day go by faster. Every second, he expected to hear word that Riku had made up his mind early, and the weekend would end with a wedding rather than an engagement. He replayed their kiss in the Courtyard so many times that he could feel the phantom sensation of Riku’s hands. After the fourth time he had to “get some air” to keep his body from humiliating him in front of Chip and Dale, Cid grabbed him by the back of his shirt and practically threw him out of the Hangar to pick up a letter from Merlin from the Post Office and get his head on straight on the way.

In Disney Town, he was waylaid by Princess Merida, Princess Rapunzel, and Queen Elsa, who were taking the opportunity to wander the town together while they waited for their individual dates with Riku to begin. By the time he finished showing them the Raceway and the Fruitball Court and Scrooge’s Ice Cream Stop, three hours had passed and he still hadn’t gotten Merlin’s letter.

Ten minutes later, the letter in one hand, half-eaten Rockin’ Crunch Ice Cream in the other, and Disney Town in the distance behind him, Sora tried to feel relieved that he hadn’t run into Riku at any point. The small part of him that wished that he _had_ seen Riku – the small part of him that felt unmoored with how little time he’d spent with Riku in the last 24 hours – had to be kept on a tight leash until the weekend was over. Three hours of exploring with no sign of Riku should have made him happy. Not hollow.

He tried to remember how he’d passed his time during his two month trip offworld, but the situations didn’t feel at all the same. After all, he hadn’t known that he loved Riku then. And he hadn’t spent almost every night of the past few weeks sleeping in Riku’s bed then. Except last night.

Sora told himself he was doing the right thing.

When he made it back to the Hangar, Kairi was there, eyeing a wayward gummi block. Sora’s day brightened immediately. “Kairi, hey! I thought you’d be at the Mysterious Tower all day.”

“Hm?” She smiled, but there was something off about it. “No, not today. I need to talk to you. Have you got a moment?”

“Always,” he said, and if he sounded a little too eager for the distraction, she was awesome enough not to mention it.

Sora followed her out into the Courtyard, Kairi unusually silent beside him. They ended up atop the castle-shaped hedge where they had last watched the sunset before the heartless attack that had changed everything. Sora almost started to spread out in his old position before remembering that Riku was not there with them, and there was no one else to make room for. Instead, he dropped down next to Kairi with his legs dangling off the edge, trying not to feel off-kilter at the thought that this would be the rest of his life once Riku got married.

As soon as he was settled, Kairi let out a long sigh. “Something happened yesterday that I need to tell you about.”

And then she told him quite a story. Sora listened quietly, but something about what she was saying needled him. A sliver of memory formed at the back of his mind, but it faded before he could make any sense of it. It was probably from his time as a heartless, he decided. He still hadn’t been able to remember that, after all.

Sora shook off the weird feeling to focus on his friend. “That’s… a lot to deal with. How are you feeling about it?”

“Confused,” she said, ducking her head. “A little angry at my grandmother for keeping this from me. Mostly confused, though. It feels like maybe I always knew, on some level, but I’m – I don’t know what to do now.”

“Well. What do you _want_ to do?”

“Want?”

The fact that Kairi sounded like the word was brand new to her made Sora smile. Typical Kairi. “Have you been thinking about what you being a Princess of Heart means for other people and forgotten to think about yourself?”

“ _No_.” Kairi frowned. “Not exactly. Okay, maybe a little. But what I want is for _everyone_ to be safe and if I can’t help, then what’s the point of being a Princess of Heart?”

“That’s like asking what’s the point of having blue eyes or what’s the point of being _born_ ,” Sora said, flicking her on the forehead and grinning when she stuck her tongue out at him in response. “The point is that there is no point, but it’s part of what makes you _you_. And it’s up to you to decide who you want to be and what you want your life to mean. So you’re a Princess of Heart with only half of her power. So what? You’re the one who gets to decide how that fits into who you are.”

Kairi looked over at him then, a small smile on her face. “Good advice. Thanks, Sora.”

“Huh? I didn’t do anything.”

The smile widened. “Yes, you did.”

Sora was still bewildered, but Kairi was happy and that was really all that mattered. He returned her smile and then leaned back on his hands to stare out at the yard as he tried to wrap his mind around all of this. Kairi had been a Princess of Heart all this time and no one had ever told her. Would anything have changed if she had known, considering that Ven had half of her magic? Would Riku still be getting married? Sora’s stomach dropped. Would Riku have skipped the Diamond Ball entirely and married _Kairi_? Could it have worked like that?

Even though it was an idea that he’d spent what felt like half his life getting used to, the idea of Riku and Kairi together now made it hard for Sora to breathe. He didn’t think he could have stood to watch them together.

“Hey, you two!”

Sora gratefully pushed the thoughts away and looked down to see Hayner flailing at them, Roxas beside him. “Hey!” he shouted back.“What’s up?”

“We’re going out to Disney Town later to hang out. Do you guys want to come?” Roxas said. Though he didn’t yell, his voice still carried up from the empty Courtyard. “Axel said you might need it, though he wouldn’t tell me why.”

The last part seemed to be directed at Kairi. Sora, who hadn’t known that she and Axel really spoke, lifted his eyebrows at her. She ignored him to lean forward and call, “All right, we’ll come. Thank you!” Then, after a pause, she added, “Wait, who’s ‘we’?”

“Me, Roxas, Pence, Olette,” Hayner counted off on his fingers. “Ven. Axel, if he gets back in time. You two. We invited Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus, too, but that’ll depend on whether or not Terra and Goofy will give so many of the Royal Guards the night off.”

Sora didn’t realize some part of him had expected to hear Riku’s name until his shoulders slumped. But of course Riku wouldn’t be there. He’d probably still be out with his potential brides. As he should be.

 _Get it together,_  Sora scolded himself, pushing a smile onto his face. “Sounds like fun. Can’t wait!”

“Great,” Roxas said. “Meet us at the front entrance around six thirty.”

 

 

Even though everyone but Axel and Ventus was a year too young to be in the bar, no one at Twilight’s View gave them a second look. All Axel had to do was wink at the bouncer on their way in, and the fact that Kairi’s ID said she was still three months shy of twenty-one just wasn’t a problem.

They ended up in a booth near the bar itself, Axel, Roxas, Kairi, and Hayner on one side, Ventus, Sora, Pence, and Olette on the other. Axel had his back against the wall and his arm thrown over the back of the seat cushion, and Roxas was nestled in the circle made by Axel's body, leaning forward to say something to his brother that Kairi could hardly catch over the noise of the bar.

“So, Kairi,” Hayner said from her other side. She glanced over in time to see him combing his fingers through his hair, trying and failing to smooth it down. “How’ve you been? We never really hang out like this, you know?”

“I’m okay,” she said. “How have you been?”

“You know, good. Beat Pence in a race at the Raceway the other day.”

“You cheated,” Pence corrected.

“Don’t blame me because you lost focus!”

The boys began to squabble, reminding Kairi so much of Sora and Riku that she had to hide a smile. Sora was gesturing wildly as he spoke to Ventus, Axel, and Roxas, looking perfectly at ease like he belonged here, and Kairi truly understood for the first time how rare it was for her to just _hang out_ with people who weren’t Riku and Sora. She rarely even thought about other people. Maybe that was the reason she had so much trouble moving on from Sora. He and Riku, her grandmother and her teachers, made up her whole life.

Kairi watched Hayner and Pence as discreetly as she could, trying to acknowledge them as _boys_ rather than just as boys. Without the hope of a future in which she and Sora were together and in love, her real future was wide open and full of options she had never considered and loves she’d never dreamed off. It didn’t have to be Hayner or Pence. It also didn’t have to be Roxas, Ventus, or Axel. But it _could_ be them, or anyone else, and that was a novel concept. Everything she thought she knew about herself had been upset by these last few weeks, but maybe there was freedom in that.

“ _Anyway_ ,” Hayner said loudly over Pence’s latest argument. “What I was trying to say was that you should hang out with us more often, Kairi.”

She blinked. “Me? Really?”

“Of course. Selphie says you’re cool, and I’d like the chance to see if she’s right or not.”

“What Hayner’s _trying_ to say is,” Olette said, shaking her head at him. “We see you around and want to invite you places, but you usually seem pretty busy? So we figured we’d throw it out there that you’re always welcome to hang.”

Pence was nodding. “There’s no such thing as having too many friends.”

Kairi tried not to look as bewildered as she felt by their kindness and was sure she failed, but she was touched, too. She hadn’t realized that anyone had noticed her there, when she’d cast herself as a supporting character in Riku and Sora’s lives – especially lately. That they were taking an interest in her at all made her smile.

“You’re right,” she said. “There’s definitely no such thing as having too many friends. So what do you guys typically do when you hang out?”

The ensuing conversation was so absorbing that she barely noticed when Roxas tapped her shoulder, asking to be let out of the booth to head to the bathroom. She just slid back in ahead of Hayner and leaned forward to ask Pence about his collection of Disney Town legends. By the time a waiter had brought them another round of drinks, causing a lull in the conversation, Sora was now sitting across from Roxas at the ends of the booth and Kairi was the one sitting in Roxas’ original place, Axel’s arm occasionally brushing against the back of her neck.

“You all right?” he asked when she stiffened, sitting up from his slouch and starting to remove his arm. Kairi couldn’t think of a _not_ weird way to say that her surprise was in the fact that she hadn’t minded, let alone to tell him to put it back, so she didn’t. “Hey, Kairi, are you—”

“Fine,” she said quickly. “I’m fine. Are you having fun?”

Axel gave her a look that clearly communicated that he thought she’d had too much to drink, though Kairi had had nothing but water all night. “Yeah, I’m good. Are you?”

Deciding that she was being silly, Kairi scooted over on the seat until she was pressed up against Axel’s side, trying to make it seem as if she’d done it for space and not just to send a message. From the way he side-eyed her, though, he probably wasn’t fooled. But he did throw his arm over the back of the seat again, so Kairi took it as a personal victory.

“I’m good,” she answered, before meeting Ventus’ amused eyes across the table. “So, Master Terra and Master Aqua seem super protective of you. How on earth did you convince them to let you become a Black Coat?”

“First of all, I’m twenty-two years old and they’re not the boss of me,” Ventus said with a dry delivery that made him sound exactly like Roxas. The puppy-like grin on his face ruined the effect, though. “Second of all, that’s actually a funny story…”

Kairi settled in for the ride, feeling lighter and freer than she had in months. And for the first time in a long time, despite him sitting only a few feet away from her, she didn’t think of Sora even once.

 

 

Around midnight, Sora got tired of pretending he was having a good time.

Well, that was unfair. He _was_ having a good time. His cheeks hurt from laughing, and he and Olette had made a ginger ale drinking game out of Hayner’s attempts to get Kairi to notice that he was flirting with her, and Roxas was talking about a recon with Demyx in the Kingdom of Corona where Demyx had ended up playing sitar in the plaza for munny because he had lost all of theirs. It was fun, but he was tired now, too tired to stop an entire day’s worth of missing Riku from crashing over him all at once.

He slid out of the booth, holding in a sigh. “All right, guys, I think I’m going to…” He trailed off as everyone took a shot of whatever beverage was in front of them. “What was _that_ for?”

“We added to the drinking game while you were in the bathroom,” said Axel with a smirk. “‘Take a shot when Sora inevitably ditches us to go hang out with the prince.’”

“I wasn’t—” Sora began and then stopped because, well, why wasn’t he? His stomach fluttered, but he tried to ignore it. “I _shouldn’t_.”

“Why shouldn’t you?” Ven asked. “His Highness gets _engaged_ tomorrow. Don’t you think he wants to see you?”

That wasn’t the problem, Sora wanted to tell him. It was _because_ Riku would want to see him that Sora should stay away. They had already kissed twice and made peace with the fact that they could not be together. It would be cruelty, to open that wound again. Cruel to both of them.

“Sora.” Kairi leaned forward so that she was visible between Axel and Hayner. “Riku gets engaged _tomorrow_. It’s your last chance. The last night you guys can be together. Go.” Her smile was warm and encouraging, but her eyes sad. He couldn’t tell if she was pitying him or not. “Go, or you’ll probably regret it for the rest of your life.”

Hayner glanced around the table as everyone else nodded. His eyebrows drew together. “Wait. Are Sora and the prince into each other or something?”

“Oh my _god_ ,” Olette and Pence said in unison, both of them facepalming.

Sora laughed, which felt great – especially since it kept his eyes from tearing up. “Okay. All right. I’m going. Thanks, guys.”

“Good luck!” his friends chorused as he left.

The walk back to the castle passed in a haze of anxiety. With every step, Sora told himself he shouldn’t be doing this, and yet that didn’t stop him from breaking into a run, his heart flying free at the thought of getting to spend one last night with Riku. One night. Their last night. And then Riku would be engaged and then he would be married and Sora would be – Sora would deal with it. For the good of the world. But one more night, surely, wasn’t too much to ask?

He stopped by his room quickly to take a shower, and then stopped by the kitchens for supplies, and then found himself nodding at Rai and Fuu as he made his way into Riku’s room with his heart in his throat.

Of course, with his luck, the moment he stepped into the room was the moment that Riku stepped out of his private bathroom with nothing but a towel wrapped low on his hips.

Sora made a sound like a dying mouse, his hands tightening around his items. Riku frowned when he caught sight of Sora frozen by the door with his eyes wide and his pulse pounding in his ears.

“I… thought you weren’t coming.” Riku said, adjusting his towel. The sharp jut of his hipbones formed a perfect trail up to his abs, well defined over the fuzzy fabric. A single droplet of water slid in slow motion between the valley of his stomach muscles. “What’s all that?”

A light dusting of silver hair covered Riku’s legs and chest. His damp hair clung to the arches of his cheek, his lashes iridescent with water. His shoulders were so broad, his biceps so huge, and Sora was almost positive he could see the curve of Riku’s dick beneath the towel and that was probably massive, too.

 _I,_ Sora thought wildly, _am very gay._

“I’m gonna get dressed.” Riku’s distant voice managed to pierce the haze, but only barely. “Maybe grab another towel to wipe your drool off the floor, huh?”

Sora scowled at him. “Shut _up_.”

But the sarcasm had awakened him enough to finally move. Riku laughed as he wandered over to his wardrobe to find something to wear. Meanwhile, Sora wandered out onto the balcony to give him some privacy, clearing enough space to arrange everything he’d gotten from his room and from the kitchen. By the time Riku joined him, he was using Oblivion and a Fire spell to light the last of the candles.

Silver eyebrows rose. “What is this?”

Sora dismissed his keyblade and grinned up at Riku from atop the blanket, on which he had spread out as many dishes as he could rescue from the kitchen – mostly dessert. A single candle was in the center for light, and in his hands were two homemade sky lanterns. It wasn’t everything that Sora had brought, but it was enough for now.

“Some people reminded me that this is our last night, and I missed you. A lot. So I thought…” The nervousness crept back in. “There’s so much we’ll never get to do after tomorrow, so why not do them tonight? I know I didn’t ask or anything, but I thought this could be our first date. I mean, if you want. We don’t have t—”

“I definitely, definitely want,” Riku said with a smile even bigger than the one Sora was sure was on his own face. He was wearing a gray t-shirt and yellow pajama bottoms now, but his hair was still damp and clinging to his pale skin, water dipping down his neck and glimmering under the bright moon. He sank down on the other side of the blanket, his eyes reflecting the candlelight in a way that made Sora’s breath catch. “What are the lanterns for?”

“Rapunzel told me about them. In the Kingdom of Corona, after she was kidnapped, they’d launch these lanterns into the sky on her birthday in the hopes that they’d light her way home. The tradition still continues to this day, but now the people spend the time before the festival making their own lanterns and make a wish as they release them. Instead of a beacon to guide their lost princess, the lanterns represent their hope lighting the way to a brighter future.” Sora held one of them out to Riku. “You can think of this as an engagement present if you want. But I thought, well, so much of this situation with Disney Castle and the Diamond Ball is out of your control. You deserve to wish for something for you.”

Riku gazed down at the lantern in his hands for a long time without speaking. The longer he was silent for, the more nervous Sora got. Maybe this had been stupid. Or maybe it had been a bad idea to remind Riku that he could never have what he wanted again. Or maybe—

Riku lifted his head and there was so much love in every line of his face that Sora could feel it like a physical touch. “Are we wishing before or after we eat?”

“After?” Sora suggested, biting his lip to keep the goofy smile off his face. “May as well take some time to think about what to wish for.”

“I don’t need it,” Riku said as he set the sky lantern aside, a smile tucked into the corner of his mouth. “But thank you.”

 

 

Riku tried not to think of the time limit on his happiness all through their meal. Instead, he told Sora about his day.

The painting lesson with Rapunzel, and how his blotted figures had looked amateur next to her extensive watercolors. Going ice skating with Elsa and falling on his ass so many times that she had to hold both his hands like he was a toddler. Doing a cooking class with Tiana that was worth it only for the moment he took his first bite of the resulting meal and nearly cried from how good it was. The archery competition with Merida, where he almost met her bullseye for bullseye and was sure he’d earned her respect by keeping up. And, finally, going sailing with Moana and getting completely, hilariously lost somehow – so it was a good thing his mother had moved the masquerade ball, because he wouldn’t have made it back in time.

“Do you know which one you’re going to marry yet?” Sora asked, though he sounded like he’d rather poke his own eye out than hear the answer.

“I don’t love any of them,” Riku said in answer to the real question. “And I don’t think any of them love me. So, I might as well pick at random for all it’s going to make a difference right now.”

Sora made a thoughtful sound and then launched into a description of his own day as if to chase the shadow of Riku's engagement from their date. _Their date_. Riku still couldn’t believe that Sora had thought to do this, that Sora had _wanted_ to do this, that it felt so normal to be hanging out and exchanging the occasional shy glances when their fingers brushed reaching for the desserts. He laughed when Sora reached the part in which everyone took a drink as he left the bar.

“Leon told me that everyone knew you were in love with me, but I didn’t believe him until tonight,” Sora groaned. “Literally everyone knows our business, Riku!”

Riku cleared his throat. “Sorry. I thought I was subtle, but—”

“You thought you weren’t subtle?” Sora scoffed. “When have _I_ been subtle? If they didn’t already know because of you, they’d definitely know now because of me.” He blew out a sigh. “In any other circumstance, I’d _want_ them to know.”

Riku hid a smile by reaching for his sky lantern. Empty dishes piled on the blanket between them and the moon was waxing in the sky. “Wish time?”

“Wish time,” Sora said. “Remember, you can’t tell anyone, or it won’t come true!”

As one, they bowed their heads over the lanterns. Riku even went as far as to close his eyes, his heart lurching painfully as he pushed the full weight of his desire out into the universe. There was only one thing he could think to wish for, as impossible as it seemed, but if the Cornerstone could just somehow be fixed… if the crisis was over and his people were safe…

An impossible wish, but he wished it all the same. Then he pushed the lantern into the open air and watched it bob over the balcony railing. Sora’s followed it a moment later, and they smiled at one another over the flickering candlelight. The moment stretched between them, and the glow of the candle made Sora’s skin look like liquid fire, his eyes brighter than the lanterns fluttering away on the breeze.

Riku took a deep breath, feeling so much that it hurt. Oh, god, it _hurt_. “I love you.”

“I know,” Sora whispered thickly, reaching to take Riku’s hand. “Come here.”

Riku let Sora lead him back inside, away from the blanket and the dishes, pausing only long enough to blow out the candle. His bedside lamp lit his room, lending it an intimate air. Sora didn’t let go of his hand even as he turned around to face Riku, his adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed.

“I don’t want to say anything or do anything that’s going to make tomorrow harder for you,” Sora admitted, running a hand over Riku’s chest before it came to rest over his hummingbird heartbeat. “That’s the only reason I won’t say – but I feel so much for you, you know?”

Riku touched the side of Sora’s face. “I know. I just—”

Sora kissed him.

At first, it was as awkward as the first time, Riku’s mouth open on a muffled word, his teeth knocking against Sora’s lips so hard that they almost drew blood. But then he moaned and settled into the kiss, one hand cupping the back of Sora’s neck to pull him closer and the other settling low on Sora’s back.

Three kisses, three separate times, and yet Riku never stopped being surprised by the concept of Sora wanting to kiss him in the first place. Every time their lips separated, it was Sora who chased his mouth to start the next kiss, Sora who dug his fingers into Riku’s hair and gripped, Sora whose breath caught when Riku pulled him closer.

They ended up on the bed, Sora on top of him as they made out like teenagers, kissing and kissing and kissing some more until Riku’s lips were swollen from Sora sucking on them one too many times. Sora whimpered when Riku trailed kisses down his neck, biting down at the juncture where Sora's neck met his shoulder, sucking what he hoped would be a large and angry mark where everyone would be able to see it. He licked and sucked and nibbled to a chorus of his name gasped from Sora’s lips as Sora writhed on top of him, Sora’s hands sliding from Riku’s chest down to his stomach and back up to Riku’s hair in a desperate bid for something to hold onto.

His mind flashed back to the noise Sora had made when Riku’s hands had squeezed his ass and Riku moaned again, his fingers twitching restlessly on Sora’s hips.

Sora pulled back, panting. “Touch me. You can touch me.”

“I am,” Riku murmured, his eyes on Sora’s mouth.

“No.” Sora’s dilated pupils had swallowed the blue of his eyes and his cheeks were flushed a beautiful shade of red. There was a damp spot on his neck where Riku’s mouth had just been, the skin already turning a riotous shade of red. “You think I don’t know what you’re doing? _I’m_ touching _you_ , and you’re letting me, to make sure it’s what I want. But you don’t have to be so careful with me. I know what I want. And you get to want things too, Riku. So, what do you want?”

“You,” Riku said, helpless to be anything but honest. “All I’ve ever wanted was you.”

Sora’s smile was so tender that it filled Riku’s chest with warmth. “I’m right here. You have me.”

“Are you—”

“ _Yes_ , I’m sure. I know you. I _trust_ you. And I want you, too.” Sora’s hands snuck under Riku’s shirt to rest over his stomach muscles. “You can do whatever you want to me and I’ll probably let you. Don’t be so afraid, okay? Not here. Not with me.”

Riku searched Sora’s face for even the slightest hint of apprehension and found nothing but easy affection, open trust, and, above all, a challenging glint. The latter made Riku’s decision for him. Sora wanted him. Sora _wanted_ him. And he would not be scared off by Riku wanting him back.

He surged forward and had Sora on his back in seconds.

Sora’s eyes were wide as he took in their new position, Riku pressing him to the mattress, the hands that had just been under Riku’s shirt now pinned to the mattress on either side of his own head. He made a sound that Riku could only describe as a whine, and something hot and hard pressed insistently against Riku’s thigh. Riku looked down to confirm that, yes, that was Sora’s dick making a very impressive tent in his pants between them, and then met Sora’s eyes, which were still wide over scarlet cheeks.

“Okay,” Sora breathed. “So this is really working for me so far. What else you got?”

Riku kissed him, wasting no time before licking his way into Sora’s mouth. He tasted like chocolate tarts and ginger ale and some kind of tangy flavor that Riku couldn’t identify even after several long, scorching kisses. Eventually, Sora squirmed beneath him, trying to grind his hips against the leg that Riku had between both of his, trying to free his trapped hands to help move things along. Riku tightened his grip on Sora’s wrists as he kissed his way to Sora’s ear, tracing the helix of it with his teeth.

“ _Riku_.” Sora shivered, his voice wavering on the syllables, dragging it out until it sounded more like a prayer. “Riku, _come on_.”

His hips moved again, but he lacked the leverage to rub against Riku like he so desperately wanted to do. Riku kissed the patch of skin just behind Sora’s ear and drew back, overwhelmed by the desire to do everything at once.

When he’d thought about this – the many, _many_ times he’d thought about this – it had always gone a different way, always in piecemeal flashes like a radio show through static. He hadn’t been able to imagine that Sora would return his feelings, let alone how he would return them or how he would behave after he returned them, and so Riku’s imaginings were amorphous things. His hand trailing down Sora’s chest the way it was doing now. His lips touching the side of Sora’s neck the way they were now. The heat between Sora’s legs that now seemed to burn him through the fabric of Sora’s skinny jeans.

But he hadn’t been able to imagine this: The thundering of Sora’s heart beneath his fingertips. The hitch of Sora’s breath when Riku’s lips trailed across his skin. The way Sora bucked his hips into Riku’s hand, begging without words for more of whatever Riku wanted to give him.

It seemed like ages and yet no time at all before Sora’s pants were unzipped and his underwear was tugged down just enough for Riku to wrap his fingers around Sora’s cock. At the first touch, Sora moaned like he’d been shot. The sound cut through Riku like a hot knife through butter, his head swimming with the marvelous wonder of this moment.

Sora wanted _him_. Sora was making those noises because of _him_.

“Oh my god, Riku, oh my god,” Sora hissed, making another valiant attempt to fuck up into the unmoving grip of Riku’s hand. “ _Please_.”

Riku tightened his hold and started stroking. The angle was strange and his grip was backward from what he was used to, but the string of curses that Sora groaned out made it clear Riku was doing _something_ right. Pearl droplets of precum leaked onto his hand as he pressed his thumb against the slit, slicking the way for him to increase the pace of his strokes and drawing a whimper from Sora that made Riku’s cock throb insistently. Riku reached his free hand down to adjust himself, to relieve some of the pressure while his hungry eyes dragged over Sora’s flushed body. His other hand was a blur on Sora’s cock now, the slick sound of skin against skin drowned out by Sora’s wavering breaths and bitten off-curses.

He pushed Sora’s hoodie up as far as he could so he could press a trail of kisses up Sora’s tan stomach, all while rubbing his hand teasingly over the head of Sora’s cock. His lips found Sora’s, swallowing his “ _ah – ah – ah!_ ” and letting Sora gasp into his mouth as Riku resumed stroking, hard and fast and then slow and light and then hard and fast again.

“ _Ah_ – _Fuck—_ ” Sora’s back arched when he came, Riku’s name on his lips.

Riku stroked him through it, trying to burn the sight of Sora coming – _for him_ – into his memory. Already, he would give anything to see it again. His heart felt more full than he’d ever thought it could get, beating wildly in his chest as he watched the satisfied smile spread on Sora’s face.

“God, I love you,” Riku murmured, leaning forward to draw Sora into a lazy kiss. Sora’s fingers came up to cup his cheeks and slide into his hair, keeping him in place as Sora kissed him, tongue stroking filthily into his mouth. Riku’s body was one hypersensitive nerve connected right to his dick and a guttural moan fell from his lips seconds before Sora pulled away.

An impish smile was on his face. “Take your pants off.”

Riku did as he was told as Sora did the same beneath him, throwing them both over the side of the bed. Sora’s hoodie followed a second later, leaving him in just a black t-shirt and white boxers. Riku wasn’t wearing anything under his pajama bottoms, but he kept his shirt on. If Sora wasn’t going to get fully naked, then neither would he.

Once they were both as bare as they were going to get, Sora flipped them over so that Riku was on his back again and Sora was straddling his thighs. There was an impressive wet spot in the front of his boxers, from where the wet head of his exposed cock was rubbing against the front of the fabric. Riku had to drag his gaze up from Sora’s crotch to see that Sora’s eyes were dark with heated promise as they slid over him.

Riku’s dick twitched in response. He could already tell that whatever Sora planned to do to him would be over embarrassingly quickly.

But then Sora’s face softened, his fingers combing through Riku’s hair, tracing Riku’s jaw line, pressing lightly against Riku’s lips. He didn’t say anything, but that look. Riku recognized that look. He’d caught it on his own face in the mirror several times when he’d been sitting here thinking about Sora, and seeing it on Sora’s face now made his heart leap.

_I feel so much for you, you know?_

Some of the roaring fire between them banked into a comforting warmth. It wasn’t that Riku had forgotten, necessarily, but it hit him all at once in that moment that he was doing this with Sora, his best friend since childhood, who had known him and loved him through the best and worst of his behavior and then found it in his heart to love Riku even more. Riku was safe here, with him. They were safe here with each other, even with the whole world on the other side of his door waiting to drag them back to reality. And they would always be together through it all. No matter what.

Even if it wasn’t the way they wanted.

He reached out with the hand that wasn't still sticky with come, lifting Sora’s hand away from his face and threading his fingers through Sora’s. Then he brought it back down so he could press his lips to Sora’s knuckles, never breaking eye contact. “You all right? If you need to stop—”

Sora shook his head as if to clear it, but his eyes were still soft as he dipped down to kiss Riku’s forehead, the tip of his nose, the corner of his mouth. “No, it’s just,” he murmured against Riku’s skin like a secret. “I can’t believe I get to have this.”

“Sora…”

Another kiss, this time to the tip of his jaw. “If you hadn’t said anything, would I have noticed? That I love you like this?”

Riku’s words died in his throat when Sora began to roll his hips. His cock sliding against Riku’s sent a spark of pleasure shooting up his spine. Sora pressed a sucking kiss to the spot where Riku’s neck met his jaw, and the second Sora’s fingers wrapped around him Riku let out a strangled moan that took them both by surprise.

Sora pressed his face against Riku’s neck and laughed breathlessly, grinding against Riku’s hip while he jacked Riku off with precise focus. Sora’s erection was back with a vengeance, hot precome smearing against Riku’s skin, marking him the way he had marked Sora earlier. Sora copied some of what Riku had done to him, rubbing the head of Riku’s cock to gather enough slickness to make his strokes easier, even as he took the initiative to pepper Riku’s face with breathless kisses. Riku’s hands flew to Sora’s ass, guiding Sora to grind against him again, to find his pleasure, because Riku wasn’t sure how long he would last like this.

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” Sora gasped. “Is—Is this good for you?”

Riku had to clench his jaw to keep from saying something as sappy as _of course it is, I’m doing it with you_. Instead, he breathed roughly through his nose and surged up to bring their lips together, squeezing Sora’s ass and rutting into the narrow space where Sora’s thigh met his hips. Sora’s hand tightened on him in surprise and Riku moaned again, his body on fire, his thoughts scattered. His focus had narrowed to the pleasure curling in his stomach, building higher and higher, his muscles tightening, his toes curling, his mouth open on a cry—

Riku came violently, his entire brain shorting out from the force of it. Sora was still rubbing against him, as hard as if he hadn’t just come five minutes ago, and once Riku could feel his limbs again he reached between them to jerk Sora off. The resulting mess was worth it for the little whimper Sora made before collapsing on top of him.

Their shirts and Sora's boxers were sticky with come, and the sheets clung to their sweaty bodies. But Sora was panting against his shoulder, his entire body shaking, and, as Riku stared at the ceiling and tried to catch his own breath while sparks of pleasure still danced over his skin, he didn’t think he’d ever been happier than he was right now.

Except.

“Was that okay?” he asked, almost too quietly for Sora to hear him. His hand came to rest on the small of Sora’s back, trembling only slightly. “Was I—?”

“What? Come on, Riku, that was perfect,” Sora said without hesitation, wiggling out of his damp boxers. Once he'd kicked them off the side of the bed, he flopped back on top of Riku, tilting his head enough to kiss the side of Riku’s neck. “I told you, you don’t have to be so afraid with me. That was like one of the top ten best things that’s ever happened to me.”

Riku relaxed, a smile growing on his face. Soon, they would have to get up and clean up. They’d have to fall asleep knowing that, in the morning, their lives would carry on as if this had never happened. And Riku would have to choose a bride, and it could not be Sora. But for now he was where he had always wanted to be, his arms wrapped tight around the man that he loved.

Then he paused as the rest of his mind caught up with Sora’s words.

“Wait a minute,” he frowned. “Top _ten_?” Sora was laughing as Riku flipped them over again, as if he’d been waiting for this exact thing to happen. But Riku didn’t care. He’d never met a challenge from Sora that he didn’t like. “I think we can do a lot better than _that_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're wondering why Strifehart have barely appeared in the past couple of chapters, it's because they're quietly enjoying their engagement because they know I'm about to ruin their lives. See you on Sunday.


	7. Compromise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, anyone wanting to swerve Sora's impassioned campaign to get the d should skip the opening scene. You'll only miss foolishness and a love confession in addition to the smut, I promise.

Sora woke up with hair in his mouth and the sun in his face.

He squinted against the light, shielding his eyes with his arm as he spat out the strands of hair. Riku was lying half-underneath him, one arm tucked beneath the pillow while the other was wrapped around Sora’s body, keeping him close even in sleep. The black shirt and blue boxers that Riku had changed into after they’d gotten cleaned up showed off his perfectly carved abdominal muscles in the space where his shirt had ridden up. Below them, Riku’s dick lifted the fabric of his boxers, hard enough to cut diamonds first thing in the morning.

Sora sat up and stretched. He felt deliciously sore, his body a canvas of bruises from Riku’s mouth. Let it never be said that the prince of Disney Castle was not goal-oriented, because Sora had come until he’d been physically unable to do it again as Riku continually set and then beat his own personal bests in the realm of giving orgasms. He was practically an expert by now and Sora—

Well, he supposed Riku’s wife would reap the benefits now.

But that was okay. He wouldn’t be Riku’s last, but he would always be Riku’s first, and that was _something_. At least he’d meant _something_.

It wouldn’t be long now before Riku would have to get ready to have breakfast with the Princesses. Sora’s throat closed up when he remembered that Riku would have announced his bride during that breakfast, if the weekend had gone the way Riku had planned. He wasn’t sure if it was better or worse that it had been put off until the ball in the afternoon. But he _was_ sure that they’d wasted enough of their remaining time together sleeping.

Sora leaned over to trace the line of Riku’s ear with his tongue, lightly tugging at the lobe with his teeth before pausing to whisper, “Good morning…”

Riku stirred with a small sound, but didn’t wake up.

Sora pressed a line of kisses down his neck, nibbling at the sensitive spot where his neck met his shoulder. Riku made another sound, this one more of a sleepy groan, and shifted in the sheets. They tangled around his shins, but still he didn’t open his eyes.

Was it Sora’s imagination or had the tent in Riku’s boxers gotten bigger?

He slid down on the bed until he could observe it for himself. The view of Riku’s body from this position was amazing; almost all of it was stretched out like a visual feast for Sora, the dips and rises of his muscles, the smooth expanse of pale skin, the musky, masculine scent of him stronger down here than anywhere else. Sora was surprised to find his mouth watering as his mind supplied him with a surprisingly detailed image of what he _could_ be doing while he was down here, but he swallowed and hesitated. He’d never done anything like that before, and it seemed like something that Riku should be awake for. His breath hitched as he thought of how Riku would look at him when Sora had his lips stretched wide around his cock. The sounds Riku would make. The sounds _Sora_ would make as he probably choked trying to do it right.

Sora had to press his forehead against Riku’s thigh and breathe as all of the blood in his body raced downward. Was it a normal thing, to want to choke on someone’s cock? _That_ wasn’t covered in _The Ultimate Guide to Gay Sex_.

Once he managed to get some semblance of control over himself, he lifted his head to gaze at Riku’s sleeping body again. Then he pushed Riku’s shirt up and began licking his way over the six pack he’d gotten so obsessed with. The hard muscle tasted like salt and faintly of soap, from the second shower their activities had forced Riku to take. Sora moved to straddle Riku’s leg, giving himself more room to kiss his way up that broad chest, but then his thigh brushed against the hardness between Riku’s, and Riku jolted awake on a gasp.

“Sora, what—” he began, voice thick with sleep, eyes blinking their way to alertness. “Oh god.”

Sora pressed a sucking kiss to one of his pectoral muscles. “Good morning.”

Riku just whimpered as Sora’s tongue flicked over his nipple.

“You’ve got maybe an hour before you’ve got to go down for breakfast,” Sora murmured against his skin. “So I was thinking maybe you could fuck me.”

The groan that Riku let out didn’t even sound human. Sora laughed, wiggling his way up Riku’s body so he could kiss the corner of his mouth. His breath smelled too horrible for Sora to dare approach his actual lips.

“Is that a yes?” he asked.

Riku’s pupils were blown out, the aquamarine nothing more than a thin ring around them. “I mean… I don’t have anything? I wasn’t exactly expecting you to turn up and get handsy with me.”

Sora’s face burned, but he didn’t let that stop him from rolling off the bed to get the last of the items that he’d brought with him to visit Riku the night before. The crinkling of the packets announced what they were before Sora had even turned around to hold up the roll of five condoms and the small tube of lube that Leon had given him way back when. Riku’s eyes were wide as he approached the bed.

“Sora…” he breathed. “Where did you even get those?”

“Leon gave them to me.”

“ _Leon_ gave them to you?” Riku’s eyebrows pinched together for a moment before his eyes narrowed. “Wait, _when_ did Leon give these to you?”

Sora climbed up and over until he was straddling Riku’s thighs. “Ummm, I don’t know? Eight years ago maybe?” For some reason, Riku tipped his head back, laughing almost hysterically. Sora frowned. “What?”

“Sora, condoms _expire_.”

“ _What_?” He turned the packet over, eyeing it until he saw the tiny printed expiration date. They were  _years_ past it. “ _Fuck_.”

Riku laughed even harder.

Sora turned the lube packet over to look for a similar date, but found nothing but a small warning for him not to ingest it. Riku continued to crack up, calming himself every few minutes only to catch sight of the pout on Sora’s face and launch into another peal of laughter. Honestly, if Sora wasn’t already never going to have the chance to have sex with Riku again, he would threaten to withhold it for the unnecessary laughter alone.

“I’m sorry,” Riku managed. “I’m so sorry. It’s – Your face. You look like when I told you Santa wasn’t real, but about sex. I’m—You're—” And the laughter continued.

Sora folded his arms, scowling down at Riku. “I’m starting to forget why I even like you.”

Riku laughed his way through nine more apologies before he finally began to calm down, only releasing the occasional snicker. He reached up to pull Sora down into a hug, covering Sora’s face with kisses that did wonders to nurse his bruised pride. “How about,” Riku suggested. “We brush our teeth so we can at least make out in the time we have left?”

_The time we have left._

Sora swallowed around the painful reminder, pressing a kiss to Riku’s cheek. “Okay. Sorry I’m such an idiot.”

“The level of effort you’ve put into seducing me is really sweet, I promise,” said Riku. “Besides, I think we’d both regret it later if our first time was like this. It’s going to be awkward and fumbling and _bad_ and we’ll want to do it again and we won’t get to. This is better. Way better.”

Sora smiled, weak though it was. “Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”

“Myself. But if this is helping you, that’s good, too.”

Riku couldn’t seem to stop touching Sora now that he’d been given permission. One hand swiped down Sora’s back, tracing the ridges of his spine, and then back up again. The other drew patterns on Sora’s hip, rubbing dangerously close to Sora’s semi-interested dick. His lips never strayed too far from Sora’s skin, brushing against him with every word even when Riku wasn’t specifically kissing him. The overall effect of it all was that Sora felt so loved that it was almost impossible to imagine getting up, let alone never having this again.

And then there was the way that Riku was looking at him when Sora met his gaze. It hit him like a punch, not because it was new but because Sora’s perception of it was new. It was humbling, to realize that Riku was looking at him the way he had _always_ looked at him. Humbling to know that Riku had loved him so much for so long – and Sora hadn’t noticed a thing.

“You said,” he began, hating himself for opening this wound, hating himself for being unable to stop. “You said you’ve been in love with me for years, but when did you know?”

Riku kissed his forehead. “It wasn’t just one moment I can tell you about. I was just fifteen and angry all the time and confused about why I was so angry all the time and especially why I was so angry all the time when you weren’t paying attention to me even though nothing had really changed. And then I realized it was me who had changed – because I understood, then, how I really felt about you and what it meant. And what I thought it would never mean. Which just made me angrier.”

Sora tried to remember Riku as an angry fifteen-year-old and couldn’t particularly recall the memory. Sure, Riku had sometimes been mean, and, now that he thought about it, he could think of a few times when he’d been so frustrated by Riku’s jabs that he had cried. But Riku had seemed cold and distant most of the time, not angry. Then again, Riku’s temper was never a volcanic eruption; he took the concept of tranquil fury to a whole new level, and Sora was glad that Riku’s fury had never been directed at him.

“I wish you’d said something,” Sora murmured, though he wasn’t sure how he would have handled such a confession when he was fourteen years old. He wasn’t sure he would have even understood what Riku was trying to say. “Sorry. I know that’s not fair.”

“It’s okay,” Riku murmured, pressing their foreheads together. “Come on, we’ve got to get up.”

Sora nodded his agreement, but it was still another five minutes before he found the will to roll out of bed and lead the way to the bathroom. And as soon as Riku had finished brushing his teeth more thoroughly than Sora had bothered to, he was back in Riku’s arms and kissing him properly for the first time all morning. And for one of the last times ever.

Riku seemed to be having the same thought because his hands slid down to Sora’s ass immediately, gripping tight to hoist Sora off his feet and onto the counter. Sora wrapped his legs around Riku’s waist and parted his lips, allowing Riku’s tongue to explore his mouth with leisurely expertise. They had gotten good at kissing, good enough that Sora was panting already by the time Riku broke the kiss to suck fresh hickeys down the side of Sora’s neck. His dick throbbed back to life, and he could feel Riku’s answering heat pressing against him, so close to where Sora wanted it.

 _God_ , Sora wanted it.

“Riku,” he cried as Riku ground his hips forward, dragging his cock against Sora’s and making stars explode behind Sora’s eyes. “We don’t have time for—”

“Shut up,” Riku growled, and fuck if _that_ didn’t just make Sora harder. And Sora could come from nothing but this, but he had woken up with something on his mind and if they had time for this then surely they had time for that, too.

“Riku,” he managed, his voice breaking after a particularly hard thrust practically shoved him back on the counter. “ _Unh_ , fuck, Riku, wait. I want – I want to blow you. Can I—”

Riku cursed low and long as his entire body shuddered. Sora felt a sudden dampness and looked down, fascinated by the wet spot spreading across the front of Riku’s boxers. Riku’s forehead came to rest on his shoulder, Riku’s every breath harsh and loud in the silence of the bathroom.

Sora’s lips curved up into a genuinely pleased smile. “Did you just come from thinking about that?”

“Shut up,” Riku said again, without any heat. He sounded sleepy and content – adorable, if Sora had to find a word for it. He felt for the curve of Sora’s still-hard cock, making Sora hiss when his fingers found their mark. “I could blow _you_ , if you—”

“No way! Not when I can’t return the favor.” Which meant never, now, but that was fine. They couldn’t fit _everything_ into one night, no matter how hard Sora had tried. He spread his legs wider, baring the line of his throat in invitation. “This is good. Keep doing this.”

Riku did as instructed, affixing his lips to the column of Sora’s neck while his hands tugged down Sora’s borrowed sleep pants to free his leaking cock. Despite the lack of time they had, Riku’s strokes were slow, coaxing Sora to the brink instead of launching him there in seconds. When his orgasm finally happened, it was a blissful wave rather than an explosion, Sora’s toes curling where his feet rested on the small of Riku’s back, Riku’s name a litany on his tongue.

In the aftermath, they breathed together, exchanging lazy kisses and giddy giggles as if they had just invented sex. They were so caught up in each other that Sora almost missed the steady pounding of a knock on the door.

His balls practically retreated back inside his body when he heard the faint voice of the king saying, “Riku? It’s time for breakfast. Are you ready?”

The smile fell off Riku’s face. “Right. I should—”

“Yeah, and I’ll just—”

“Okay. Just give me a—”

“Yeah. Yeah.”

Riku pulled away from him, combing his dry fingers through his hair. He took two steps toward the door, then turned back and kissed Sora fiercely and quickly, and then he was gone. Sora hid in the bathroom until Riku returned, wearing a different pair of boxers and an apologetic look.

Sora held up a hand before he could turn the look into words. “I’ll see you later after the ball. Or tomorrow, depending on what your plans are.”

“Later is good,” Riku said, eyes sad. “Thanks for… all of this.”

Sora gave him as big a smile as he could muster and kept that smile stitched to his face as he changed back into his own clothes. He only let it fall when he was back in the empty hallway, a closed door and a Diamond Ball between him and the man that he loved.

He inhaled. Exhaled. Inhaled. Exhaled. But no matter how he told himself to breathe through it, every step he took away from Riku felt like a sword through his heart.

 

 

“Hey, Sora.”

Cloud watched as the younger man froze with his hand on his doorknob, clearly not having expected anyone to be awake to catch him slinking into his bedroom in the same clothes he’d been wearing last night. This wasn’t unusual lately, as he and Leon were well aware that Sora had taken to sleeping in the prince’s bed instead of his own. However, instead of wearing pajamas, Sora was wearing the same hoodie and skinny jeans he’d left for Disney Town in yesterday. Cloud didn’t need to be a genius to put the dots together here.

“Um,” said Sora without turning around. “H-Hi, Cloud.”

He leaned against the wall, trying not to sound as amused as he felt. “Long night?”

Sora’s ears were turning red. “Oh, you know. It. Yeah.”

“Drink anything at the bar?”

“Just, like. Half of Roxas’ beer.”

“Hm.” Cloud smirked. “Your shirt’s inside out.”

Sora knocked his head against the door with a groan. “I don’t want to talk about it!”

The only thing that kept Cloud from outright laughing was the way that Sora’s shoulders slumped after speaking. The door was practically the only thing keeping him standing, and he still wouldn’t turn around, which seemed like a dramatic reaction to being caught in an embarrassing position. Then Cloud remembered what day it was and began to suspect that this was about more than just hiding a hickey or two.

“Listen,” he said in a gentler tone of voice. “Spend the day with me and Leon. We were going down to Disney Town to look into hiring a planner. You should come with.”

Cloud expected him to say no. Generally speaking, Sora often declined to spend time with Cloud and Leon simultaneously because, in his own words, “you guys are just going to be gross the whole time.” He took it as a sign of how depressed Sora must have already been that Sora didn’t even hesitate before he said yes.

“Just let me shower and grab breakfast first,” he continued, finally opening his bedroom door. He paused and turned just enough for Cloud to see that he most definitely had a hickey low on his neck. His smile was weak, his eyes bright with unshed tears. “Thanks, Cloud.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

He waited until Sora had closed the door between them before moving to wake Leon and tell him of the update in plans. Then, he headed out again to oversee the changing of the guard on Pete and collect Sephiroth’s report on the overnight shift.

“It was a quiet night,” Sephiroth said as they ascended the stairs together, leaving Yuffie behind for the next shift. “He mostly slept off and on and begged for his freedom.”

Cloud hummed thoughtfully. “Capturing him was too easy, but I can’t figure out what he could possibly gain from being here. If Maleficent wanted to watch the castle, she could probably already do that.”

“It’s far too early to trouble yourself with that, captain.” Sephiroth yawned, and it somehow looked elegant on him. Cloud, on the other hand, still yawned like a little kid even well into his thirties. “For now, we’ve neutralized a threat to the castle that might lead us to the larger danger. Take that as a win.”

“It’s far too early for optimism, too,” Cloud smiled. “Go get some rest.”

Sephiroth returned the smile before disappearing up the stairs that led to his room. Cloud lingered there for a while, just letting himself be happy, before heading to his third and final stop – the kitchens – to grab some breakfast for himself and Leon.

Of course, he should have known that the day had started too easy. They had barely even finished breakfast before Roxas turned up, one hand covering his eyes as he inched into the room to request Leon’s presence for an emergency meeting.

“We’re fully dressed,” Leon deadpanned before shooting Cloud the same old apologetic look. “I’ll meet you guys down there as soon as I can, okay?”

Cloud rolled his eyes and waved him off. It wasn’t until Leon and Roxas had left that Cloud realized he’d subconsciously done it with his ring hand. Even _he_ thought that was a little too passive aggressive and thus, two hours later when he and Sora were wandering around Disney Town, he bought Leon his favorite kind of smoothie to apologize.

They ended up in a park while they waited. Cloud found a bench to sit on, leaning Buster Sword up against the side, and watched Sora as he joined a group of teenagers skateboarding up and down the path. He hadn’t even known that Sora knew how to skateboard, but if it was new to him then he seemed to pick it up easily enough. It was fascinating to watch Sora in action sometimes; despite the fact that he’d just met those children, the man was talking and laughing with them as if they’d known each other for years.

Cloud had heard similar reports about Sora and the Princesses. They may have all come to Disney Castle to romance Riku, but Sora had already won their hearts. Queenie Minnie, he knew, had tried her best to encourage this, in the hopes that Sora’s natural knack for forming friendships would be the solution that would save the prince from his upcoming marriage. But the diagnostics that Donald had run on the Cornerstone had made it clear that it only shone because the Princesses remained here. Once they left…

He tilted his head back with a sigh, wondering what bad news Leon was receiving in his emergency meeting. Marluxia and Larxene had been dispatched somewhere, even if he didn’t know all the details. Maybe they had found something. Maybe it was even something _good_. Maybe—

“Hey, Broody,” Sora said, popping up in front of him with the skateboard tipped up beneath one foot. “What’s got you making that face now?”

Cloud lifted an eyebrow at him, deciding not to mention that Sora was basically only here because _he_ was the one doing his best impression of a wilting flower when no one was looking at him. “If I’m Broody, what’s Leon?”

Sora’s lips thinned with the effort of not grinning. “Jerkface.”

“Okay, that’s fair.”

Sora laughed, dropping down on the bench beside Cloud and tucking the skateboard into the grass underneath. The sun was high in the sky, blanketing Cloud’s head and shoulders with slightly too much heat. Sweat beaded at his temples, but Sora seemed perfectly at ease in the hot weather, even in his heavy battle clothes. Then Sora leaned forward to rest his elbows on his thighs, a light sigh escaping his mouth as all the mirth seemed to drain right out of him.

“Are you going to be okay?” Cloud asked, copying his position. “Honestly. If you need to go offworld for a bit…”

“I’ll still be thinking about it no matter where I am,” Sora admitted. “Anyway! Do you and Leon know which wedding planner you want to pick or are we going to visit every single one in the area?”

“ _I_ honestly just wanted to let Selphie do it. Do you know she has a whole book?”

“Oh, yeah, I’ve seen it,” said Sora, because of course he had. “The big cream one with the ribbons that starts with the legend of the paopu fruit? She loves showing everybody that thing.”

“Yeah, I was fine with that, but Leon,” Cloud paused, running a finger along his ring and fighting a smile. “Leon wanted to make more of an effort.”

Sora was quiet beside him for such a long time that Cloud was surprised when he finally did speak. “Did you love Sephiroth?”

The question came from so far out of left field that for a moment Cloud thought it was a test. When Leon and Cloud had first started dating – and on every day since – Sora had expressed nothing but joy about it, even though Cloud had fought his own feelings for long enough to hurt them both. It was a little late to question the strength of their relationship now, but he and Sephiroth were on the best terms they’d been on in fifteen years and he and Leon _were_ about to get married…

Then he realized that Sora was not the type of person to test anyone, and, in fact, had more personal reasons to ask a question like that.

“I did,” he said slowly. “Why?”

“Just wondering. I mean, I can’t imagine feeling the way I do about Riku about anyone else, but you and Leon are, well, gross, so maybe—”

“I wouldn’t compare your situation to me and Sephiroth, Sora.” Cloud sat up on the bench, glancing to his opposite side. The smoothie had warmed into a flat, gross mess from the combination of heat and time, so he picked it up and tossed it five feet into a nearby trashcan. If Leon still hadn’t shown up yet, he didn’t deserve an apology smoothie anyway. “We were best friends our whole lives and I loved him, yes, but that love blinded me to the fact that we just weren’t good for each other. By the end, it wasn’t love anymore; it was obsession. The fact that you’re willing to let each other go for the good of the world is proof that you and the prince wouldn’t have that problem.”

Sora sighed like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Cloud wrapped an arm around him and tugged Sora into a hug, tightening his hold when Sora released a shuddery breath. “Well. Speaking of problems, what do you say I go give this skateboard back and then we go pick up Leon? He’s been gone so long I feel like he probably forgot he had something else to do.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

Leon approached slowly, hands in his pockets, breeze ruffling the spikes of his hair. Not for the first time, Cloud was struck by how beautiful his fiancé was. As if he heard the thought, Leon smiled at him, the scar that bisected his nose stretching as his lips did. It did nothing to detract from his fine features.

“You sure took your time!” Sora grumbled, getting to his feet. You couldn’t even tell that he’d been sad a moment ago from the way he was sticking his tongue out at Leon. “And don’t act like you’ve never done that before!”

Leon ruffled Sora’s hair as soon as he got close enough and then shoved Sora away so he could lean down to kiss Cloud, brief but sweet. “Miss me?”

“Of course I did,” Cloud said, standing up as well. “Though _you_ missed out on the chance to have a smoothie.”

“An apology smoothie? I know of better ways for you to say you’re sorry for nothing.”

Leon kissed him again, this one lingering until Cloud’s heart began to flutter in his chest. Leon only pulled away when Sora pretended to gag behind them.

“Well,” Leon deadpanned, lifting an eyebrow at Sora. “I was going to ask you to be my Best Man, but if you’re going to be like _that_ …”

Sora froze. “Wait. What?” His eyes widened. “ _Really?_ ”

“Of course really. Who else would I— _Hey_!”

Cloud laughed as Sora threw himself at Leon, hugging him so hard that Leon nearly tipped over onto the grass. Leon immediately began to complain about the ferocity of the attack, but there was joy twinkling in his eyes that made him look, somehow, even more beautiful. Tears rolled down Sora’s face as he practically squealed in happiness, and Cloud wished that he had a camera just to capture the moment.

“Get in here, Cloud!” Sora called, throwing an arm out to invite him into the hug.

Cloud shook his head. “Yeah, no, I’m fine here.”

Sora and Leon exchanged a glance, and before Cloud could even think about running they were on him. Unlike Leon, he _did_ tip over, and the three of them went down laughing, limbs everywhere. Cloud was winded from bearing the weight of both brunet men, but that did nothing to stop his breathless laughter.

After all, this was his family – soon to be officially so. Shenanigans were something he’d just have to get used to.  
  
“My first act as Best Man is to get celebratory ice cream,” Sora declared, pushing himself up and grabbing his skateboard. “Be right back.”

And then he was off, leaving Leon and Cloud to spread out on the grass next to one another instead of on top of one another. Leon reached between them to hold Cloud’s hand, and Cloud was in too good of a mood to even give him shit for it.

He chuckled as something occurred to him. “I’m already terrified to find out what kind of bachelor party he and Zack are going to team up to plan for us.”

“Oh, don’t worry.” Leon patted the back of his hand. “Yuffie’s put herself in charge of drinks, so we’re not going to remember any of it anyway.”

“Mark me down as more worried, not less.”

Leon laughed, but he didn’t say anything else reassuring. Probably because he couldn’t. Anything that involved Yuffie was bound to be a lot, and she and Zack tended to egg each other on more than they talked each other down. But Cloud found that the more that he thought about it, the more he didn’t mind.

The end result of it all would be that he and Leon would be married, and that would make anything worth it.

 

 

“Sunlight,” Umiko said, pulling up a chair. “Do you want to talk about this?”

There were many ways that Kairi could have replied to that question, and most of them were sarcastic. But she was hardly going to talk back to her grandmother, regardless of how angry she was. Instead, she continued to stare at the map in the war room, focusing on the little black pin that pierced the center of Radiant Garden. The home she barely remembered, the home she had once protected, the place where she had lost her power, her parents, her memories.

“You should have told me,” she said finally, eyes still locked on that pin. “I still don’t understand why you didn't.”

“Kairi, I…” Her grandmother trailed off, folding her wrinkled hands in her lap. Her eyes were downcast, and locks of hair had come loose from her pompadour to brush against her forehead. Even her scarf sat at an angle on her shoulders, disheveled in a way Umiko so rarely was. The sight made a fission of guilt pulse through Kairi’s chest. “He tried to _kill_ you. You were so young, and he almost – I never wanted you to have to relive that. So when you seemed to forget, I encouraged it. I made King Mickey swear to never say or do anything that might trigger those memories. And, yes, I wanted to protect you, but at the same time,” Umiko shook her head. “If anything had happened to you, it would have been my fault. It was my job to protect you and to take care of you and I _failed_ and you nearly died because of it. How could I ask you to relive that? How could I ask you to forgive me?”

“I never blamed you.” Kairi reached over to take one of her grandmother’s hands in both of her own, trying express how genuine the sentiment was through her voice alone since Umiko wouldn’t look at her. Because though she could still hardly remember those days beyond what she’d been told, she knew herself. And she wouldn’t have blamed anyone but the person who had hurt her. “I don’t blame you every time I get a paper cut or a skinned knee. I don't blame you every time I get a broken heart or put my trust in the wrong person. I don’t blame you when I lose a spar or get a bruised rib from keyblade practice.”

“I hardly think those are the same thing.”

“You didn’t know,” she insisted. “You can’t protect me from things that you don’t know are threats in the first place. And, I’m sorry, but I’m almost twenty-one years old now. You shouldn’t still be trying to protect me with your lies. You don’t have to stop trying to protect me, but… I need you to trust that you’ve raised me well enough to handle anything – and that I’ll choose to come to you for the things I can’t.”

Umiko’s hand came up to cover Kairi’s in turn. “I’ll do my best.”

“And I’ll do my best to forgive you.” Kairi rose, pressing a kiss to her grandmother’s cheek and then wandering over to the map. “But I don’t just yet.”

“I… I understand.”

She heard the scrape of a chair being returned to its original position, followed by the quiet shuffling of her grandmother heading for the door. Kairi sighed once she was alone in the war room again, folding her hands behind her back. Anger simmered in her blood, but she tried to direct it into something more productive than being upset with her only remaining family.

One month ago, Maleficent had attempted to attack Disney Castle by infesting the Cornerstone of Light with dark magic. Though Kairi and the queen had gotten it working again, the stain of Maleficent’s magic remained, leaving Disney Castle vulnerable without a true Princess of Heart to fix the Cornerstone. Umiko and Donald had scoured their library, Merlin’s library, and Master Yen Sid’s library for a spell that would help the situation, but nothing had worked. And Kairi, who already lived in Disney Castle and loved everyone in it, was of no use to anyone with her power split between herself and Ventus and no way to recover it.

She paced in front of the map as she considered all of those facts, her mind working overtime for _some_ solution that they hadn’t already considered. What if she and Ventus joined forces to cast a light spell on the Cornerstone? Did two halves performing one spell make a whole? Or what if they reached out to the former Princesses of Heart for aid? King Mickey had said that their worlds had not fallen to darkness despite the keyblade shards that gave them their magic having been reborn into the New Six Lights. Perhaps there was something for Kairi to learn from them about how to protect a world without the full reach of her powers? Or maybe—

Kairi came to a stop in front of the map again, reaching up to muss up her own hair in frustration. She wasn’t on the war council, so she didn’t know what His Majesty had already tried and discarded. Nothing she was coming up with seemed like _enough_.

She heard laughter behind her and turned around to see Axel and Roxas standing in the doorway, exchanging amused glances.

Her cheeks reddened and she dropped her hands to her sides. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Is this how you cut your hair?” Axel asked. “Just rip it out at the roots? Because there’s this new invention called scissors, and, boy, is it going to blow your mind when I tell you what they do.”

Roxas tried unsuccessfully to hide his laughter behind a cough. “We’re looking for the king, actually. Leon’s out, and we need to make a report.”

“Well, the king isn’t here,” Kairi said, hoping they didn’t ask her what she was doing in here. Partially because she was fairly sure that she wasn’t supposed to be in here at all and partially because she didn’t want to explain. “What’s the report?”

Roxas and Axel exchanged glances again. Of course, it was more than a glance. She had seen Sora and Riku do this a thousand times, and the way they could lock eyes and have an entire conversation had sometimes made her jealous. Would she ever be close enough to someone to know _everything_ they wanted to say with a glance?

“Sorry, princess, but the details are classified,” Axel finally said. “Let’s just say one of our members has gone missing, and we’re looking into it.”

Kairi’s eyes widened. “What? Who?”

“Did the definition of the word classified change in the last hour or something?”

“You’re the one who said it was classified and then _told me anyway_!”

“The _details_ are classified. I don’t see how I could have been any more clear—”

“Woooooow,” Roxas drawled, rolling his eyes so hard that it looked like it hurt. “I’m going to go, but if you need a Best Man, I’m available.”

He left before Kairi had a chance to demand to know what _that_ was supposed to mean.

She expected Axel to go with him, but the redhead just continued to lean against the doorpost, watching her with those piercing green eyes. Kairi had to fight the inexplicable urge to fidget under his scrutiny, remembering all of a sudden that her hair probably looked like a wild bird’s nest. And yet, like with his arm almost around her shoulders at the bar, she found she didn’t _mind_ when he looked at her. She didn’t mind at all.

When the silence had gone on a little too long to be entirely comfortable, she said, “Thank you for last night. Roxas told us it was your idea to invite us, and I had a really good time.”

Axel lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Did it help?”

“With _what_?” Kairi sighed and turned back to face the map, reaching out to touch the black pin through Radiant Garden. It felt strangely warm beneath her fingertips. “I feel better, but the worlds are still doomed.”

Axel came up beside her a few seconds later. From the way he studied the map, it was clear that he’d never seen it before and was impressed by it. Kairi was glad to know that she wasn’t the only one who’d never been in here before yesterday’s meeting. He turned to her then, and something in his eyes made her pause. She couldn’t have said what it was, but it pulled her full attention to him immediately. His jaw worked like he wanted to say something, but it wouldn’t come out, and Kairi’s own lips parted before she’d even decided what _she_ wanted to say.

Then something flickered in her peripheral vision.

It was the map – or, rather, the pins on the map. One by one, the golden pins that pierced four of the worlds began to turn black: The Bayou, the Kingdom of Corona, DunBroch, and Motonui. The golden pin through Arendelle flickered forest green for a moment and then inched back to gold again.

“Do you—do you see—?” she gasped. “Does that—?”

Axel followed her line of sight and then frowned. “Oh, fuck.”

“Maleficent,” Kairi said, fists clenching at her sides. But unlike the earlier problem she had been contemplating, this was one that enabled her to take concrete action. And that made her confident and clear-headed as she continued, “I’ll go warn the king. You tell Riku. He’s probably with the princesses right now.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Axel said with a playful salute, though his face was more grim than she’d ever seen it. He lowered his hand slowly, that look in his eyes again. “Listen, Kairi—”

“Later,” she replied, already turning away. “Whatever it is, you can tell me later. Just get Riku.”

“Right. You got it.”

 

 

Riku had several hours between the masquerade ball and the breakfast, and he didn’t think he could spend those hours hiding in his room. Those hours marked his final chances to fall in love with a princess, any princess, even with the bruises from Sora’s hands and mouth still burning underneath his clothes.

He pushed that out of his mind as he and Queen Elsa walked through the Courtyard together. He’d asked her to take this walk with him after breakfast because, of all the Princesses, she and Moana were the ones he had the most in common with. He and Moana shared the innate knowledge of and love for sailing that only living on an island could give you, and a desire to explore the outside world that was forever tempered by their equally beloved responsibility to lead their people. He and Elsa shared a certain reservation in the way they carried themselves around others, a warmth that only came out when they were around someone they truly cared for, and a struggle with the metaphorical darkness inside them that had caused them to lash out at those loved ones at least once before. He could see either one of them being good co-rulers of Disney Castle… if it couldn’t be Sora.

And it _couldn’t_ be Sora.

“You’re quiet,” Elsa said as she wrapped up her story about her first time celebrating Anna’s birthday since they were children. “Is everything all right?”

“Yeah. This weekend just went by so fast.” Was it really only a few hours ago that he’d had Sora in his arms? He cleared his throat. “And admittedly I’m worried that this was all for nothing.”

“It wasn’t for nothing. Sometimes, love takes time and work. If nothing else, you’ve made allies this weekend, so even if you don’t choose a bride—”

“No, I will. I don’t think I was cut out for,” he breathed out a laugh, “Dating a bunch of people all at once. I’d rather just work on strengthening one relationship.”

The way Elsa was watching him made him feel like she wanted to ask him something, but at the last moment she seemed to decide not to. Instead she said, “You seem like a good man, Riku. Any of us would be thrilled to marry you.”

“Except Merida.”

Elsa laughed, but it was a fond sound. “Yes, except probably Merida.”

It was the first time that Riku had made her laugh, and he had to admit that it lit up her face and made her blue eyes sparkle. Her eyes were a little too pale, more ice than ocean, but they were still lovely. Riku watched her bring a hand up to cover her mouth as she continued to giggle and he tried to urge himself to feel something for her. _Something_.

But he didn’t.

Before he could change the subject, someone called his name. He and the Queen turned to see Axel hurrying into the Courtyard. Axel picked up speed when he caught sight of them, covering the distance in a few strides.

“Your Highness, sorry to interrupt, but you need to come with me,” he said, hardly even winded from the run. “There’s an emergency.”

“What emergency?” Elsa asked.

Axel seemed to hesitate, and for good reason. But if Riku was going to get engaged to one of these women today, he supposed he needed to know how they would handle a threat to the Castle beforehand. He nodded his permission for Axel to continue in front of Elsa.

“The Princesses’ worlds are in danger,” Axel said grimly. “According to the map in the war room, they’re falling to darkness as we speak.”

“ _What_?”

“Anna!”

Elsa darted toward the castle, even though she had no idea where the war room was. Riku raced after her, heart pounding and mind racing. Had this somehow been Maleficent’s plan? But she could have had no way of knowing that they would respond to her attack by calling all the Princesses of Heart to Disney Castle. Then again, her latest strike had come over a month after her first. She could have only just learned that the Princesses of Heart were here. But _how_? They had Pete in the dungeons, and most people thought that the Princesses of Heart were a myth. They had not advertised their arrival to anyone but the businessmen who had helped to put the Diamond Ball together, and each of them had been sworn to secrecy.

So how? _How?_

And what were they supposed to do if the Princesses had to leave?

By the time the three of them made it to the war room, everyone was already gathered there – including the other Princesses and Kairi. Well, not _everyone_ , he noticed when he entered. Leon and Cloud were missing, as was Captain Goofy.

“Leon and Cloud went out to pick a planner for the wedding,” his mother explained when he and Elsa took a seat beside her. “Goofy’s going to track them down and bring them here.” She paused. “He’s going to find Sora, too.”

She didn’t say it like a warning and yet Riku still felt it like one, with Elsa beside him and Moana across the table from him and the rest of the Princesses scattered around the room. He and Sora were nothing more than friends now, and he was expected to act like it. He could see his mother reading these thoughts on his face, saw the way her expression fell, and he quickly turned away before she could try again to console him or talk him out of this.

Elsa laced her fingers together and pressed them to her mouth, where they quivered. Riku frowned. “Hey. Your sister will be all right. She’s a Princess of Heart, too.”

“I know,” Elsa said with a tremulous smile. “I just… wasn’t there for her the way I should have been when we were younger, and now that we’ve mended things between us I feel like I should _be_ there.”

Riku lifted a hand, letting it hover over her shoulder until she nodded her permission for him to touch her. “If you need to leave, we can prepare a gummi ship for you right now. Just say the word, Your Majesty.”

Elsa started to shake her head as Leon and Cloud trailed in, Sora behind them. He was back in his battle clothes, looking upbeat but serious and more beautiful than any person had any right to be. Riku managed to drag his eyes away to look at his father instead as everyone found a seat or a wall to lean against.

“We don’t have time to ease into this one, so let’s get started,” said Mickey. “Maleficent has found and unlocked the keyholes of DunBroch, the Bayou, the Kingdom of Corona, and Motonui, flooding the worlds with more heartless than they’ve ever faced before. Without direct intervention, the heartless will soon enter the keyholes, devour the heart of the worlds, and plunge them into darkness.”

Elsa sat forward in her seat. “And Arendelle?”

“Princess Anna has been in touch with Chip and Dale. Though Maleficent did unlock the keyhole, Anna has been holding the darkness back. The number of heartless in Arendelle is on the rise, but the world will not fall so long as Anna is there.”

Riku felt Elsa finally relax beneath his hand and began to remove it, but she reached up to lay her hand over his, so he left it there instead. He felt eyes on him and glanced up to see Sora staring directly at them from his place at the wall between Cloud and Leon. His face was wiped clean of expression, but Riku knew him too well not to see the conflict in Sora’s eyes. The hurt he was trying not to feel. He quietly removed his hand, swallowing around the guilt and longing.

“We need to go home _right now_ ,” Merida said. “Are your gummi ships ready to fly?”

“The keyholes can only be locked by a keyblade, Your Highness. We can, of course, provide you each with gummi ships, but to save your worlds, you’ll need to take a keyblade wielder with you.”

“Then _assign us one_!”

“Sending half of Disney Castle’s keyblade wielders out at the same time is probably exactly what Maleficent wants us to do. We need to be strategic about this—”

“Send me.” Riku’s stomach dropped as Sora stepped forward, a determined expression on his face. “Your Majesty, I can find and lock all the keyholes. Send me.”

Riku wanted to object so strongly that the words got caught in his throat. Luckily, Leon, Cloud, and Kairi all spoke over each other in protest of the idea.

“It has to be me,” Sora said, undaunted. He didn’t raise his voice, but everyone quieted immediately. “King Mickey and Riku can’t leave Disney Castle. Master Aqua and Master Terra are needed for palace security. Axel just got his keyblade and is still in training. Kairi and Ventus are—too important to lose. That just leaves me and Roxas, and I’m volunteering.”

Leon winced. “I’ll need Roxas, unfortunately. Saïx is already missing in action. We can’t afford to lose another spy right now with Maleficent making moves. But Sora, there has to be another—”

“No.” Sora’s eyes met Riku’s through the crowd, his chin tipped up stubbornly. “You know I can do this.”

And the problem was that Riku _did_ know that. He had no doubt that if he sent Sora and no one but Sora with the Princesses, then Sora wouldn’t rest until every single one of their worlds was safe again. He also knew that, most of all, Sora truly did want to do it. He loved going to other worlds and exploring them, loved meeting new people and having adventures. But he didn’t think that was why Sora had volunteered for this right now.

He thought that maybe Sora _needed_ to go. And he couldn’t be the one to tell him not to.

“Let him go,” Riku said to the visible surprise of everyone around him. “His mind is made up. We just have to believe in him.”

His father paused for only a moment before nodding. “Okay. Princesses, if you pack up and meet Sora in the Hangar, he’ll take you home right away and do whatever he can to help you.”

Leon’s face was set unhappily. Cloud, as always, stood stoically in his corner, although Riku could see that he and Leon had started holding hands at some point. Kairi looked like she was biting the inside of her cheek to keep from volunteering to charge into whatever trap Maleficent had set, Princess of Heart or no Princess of Heart. But none of them argued with the king.

Riku almost jumped when he felt something brush his shoulder. It was Elsa's hand, trying to bring him comfort the way he had done to her. He smiled at the effort, though all he wanted to do was take it all back and forbid Sora from leaving Disney Castle at all.

“In the meantime,” Elsa said. “I’ll remain here. As you said, Arendelle will be fine with just Anna, so I’ll stay here to head off any potential attack on the Cornerstone.”

“Thank you, Elsa,” Mickey said, sounding touched by the gesture. “We sure do appreciate it!” He looked around the room, in that way he often did to invite anyone who wanted to speak into the silence to have the chance to do so. But no one said a word, and Merida was practically vibrating in her seat from the desire to rush home. “All right then,” Mickey continued with a grim nod. “Dismissed.”

 

 

Of all the people to turn up in his bedroom after the war council meeting, Sora had not been expecting Roxas. He zipped his bag and raised his eyebrows. “I’m not sure what’s more confusing. That they thought you could change my mind or that you agreed to try.”

Roxas snorted, kicking the door shut behind himself. “Wrong on both counts. I was wondering if you wanted me to come with you.”

“Leon said he needs you.”

“Leon can eat me.”

Sora chuckled, seeing the show of concern for what it was. “You’re really just a big softie, aren’t you, Roxas?”

The blond rolled his eyes, but he flopped down on the end of Sora’s bed anyway. Sora could feel Roxas watching him collect his keychains, though he knew he wouldn’t be using any of them but Oblivion, and double check his drawers and wardrobe to make sure he hadn’t left anything. The silence was comfortable, even a little bracing. If Roxas believed he could do this, at least enough to not offer commentary on his poor life choices, then Sora didn’t think he had anything to worry about.

Once he was finally packed, he considered, just for a moment, going to say goodbye to Riku. But he knew what would happen if he did. Or at least he knew what he wanted to happen if he did, and so he shouldn’t. He and Riku had already said goodbye that morning and that had nearly killed Sora. He didn’t have the emotional energy to do it again.

“All right, hero boy,” Roxas said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Let’s get you out of here.”

Roxas accompanied him all the way to the Gummi Hangar before taking off, perhaps sensing that Sora would need someone on his side. As expected, Chip and Dale weren’t the only ones there. Cloud and Leon were lingering by the launch pad, and Kairi threw herself at him the second that he stepped inside.

“I wish I could go with you,” she said, hugging him tightly. “Please be safe out there.” Sora barely had the chance to hug her back before she pulled away to take something out of her pocket. She held the letter out to him, lowering her voice. “From Riku. He said not to open it until you leave.”

Sora stuffed it into his pocket, a lump in his throat. “Thank you.” He put on his usual smile. “Don’t worry! I’ll be back soon.”

“You’d _better_ be. Promise me?”

“I swear.”

Kairi returned his smile and stepped away to allow Sora to approach Leon and Cloud. Leon didn’t say anything before pulling Sora into a hug, which Sora happily returned. He opened his eyes to see Cloud hanging back to allow them to have a moment and gestured firmly for Cloud to join them. He saw Cloud roll his eyes, but the blond threw his arms around them both, and that was all that Sora really needed.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Leon ordered once he’d let go. “Or I’ll kill you.”

Sora grinned. “And save the heartless the trouble?”

“Not funny, kid.”

“Not a kid!”

Cloud folded his arms, nudging Leon with his shoulder. “Since he’s not going to say it, I will: We love you. Safe journey.”

Sora’s grin softened into something smaller and more genuine. He looked at the man who had raised him and the man who would soon officially join their family, and, though he knew it wouldn’t be the last time he ever saw them, he still did his best to memorize them as they were in this moment. One last happy memory to take with him on his trip.

“I love you, too,” he said. “And thank you.”

Sora found all of the Princesses wandering around the gummi ship, talking quietly about weapons and strategies and their families who might be in danger. He tossed his bag beneath the pilot’s chair and turned to face them, seeing the fear barely buried beneath the determined edge to their expressions.

“We’re probably walking right into a trap. I think we all know that,” he said, meeting everyone’s gaze one by one. “But we’re stronger than Maleficent gives us credit for. The light is stronger than Maleficent gives it credit for. And no matter what she’s trying to do, we’re going to stop her and we’re going to win. Together. Am I right?”

The Princesses cheered.

“The gummi ship runs on smiles, so it’s time to laugh in the face of danger. Or just laugh in general, because you know what? _We’re_ the danger.”

The fear that had seemed to hang heavy inside the cockpit started to dissipate as Rapunzel and Tiana giggled and Merida and Moana made war cries that would make the Royal Guards jealous. He wasn’t as good at speeches at Riku was, but it felt like the Princesses were happier and that was enough for now.

“So,” he finished, grinning wide. “Where to first?”

 

 

Sora had been gone for two weeks, and there had been no sign of Maleficent.

Leon turned over his map of Disney Castle, which was covered in notes and scribbles and a little bit of drool from where he’d fallen asleep on it at some point. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept in a bed anymore, or the last time he’d left his office for dinner without Sora to make him. There had just been too many leads to follow.

Pete had been completely silent no matter who had tried to work information about Maleficent’s plans out of him. Even Mickey had given it a try, and all Pete had done was sneer, “If it isn’t the boat boy king,” and glare at him through the bars until he left. The Organization had brought back intel from all the worlds that Maleficent had touched, keeping Leon updated on Sora’s every move, but they hadn’t been able to find anything new on what Maleficent planned to do next. DunBroch’s keyhole had been locked, and Sora was somewhere in the Bayou now, but he hadn’t seen any sign of her as of his last check-in with Chip and Dale.

Leon ran a hand through his hair. What was she _doing_?

It didn’t help that he was short a pair of eyes and ears. Saïx had been missing since his last mission with Axel. According to Axel’s report, Saïx had claimed to have one more thing to wrap-up and had told Axel to return to Disney Castle without him. He hadn’t been seen or heard from since. Axel had reduced his hours of training with Master Yen Sid to pick up the slack, but it still wasn’t enough.

Nothing Leon did was ever enough.

He reached for another report, his ring glowing under the light. Cloud had given him an engagement ring with a wolf engraved on it, which he called the Fenrir ring. It matched the wolf emblem that was embroidered on his shoulder pauldron, but if it had a more special meaning than that, then Cloud had yet to share it with Leon. It was the only piece of Cloud that he’d seen in the last fourteen days, and Leon was so tired of missing him.

“Come in,” he muttered at the sound of a knock, his eyes still scanning the paper in front of him. “What?”

“Someone needs to get some actual rest,” said Aerith, bearing a covered tray that he assumed contained his dinner. Or was it lunchtime? The days were starting to blur together. “If you’re answering the door like that.”

“I’m fine,” Leon said, gesturing for her to leave it on the side table. “This information isn’t going to curate itself.”

“Burying yourself in work isn’t going to make Sora come back any faster.”

“I’m _fine_.”

Aerith set the tray down so hard that the dishes clattered together. “You’re clearly _not_ fine, Leon. You need to talk to someone.”

Leon’s temples began to throb. He rubbed them ineffectually, wishing that he had a potion, wishing he had Cloud to bring him one. He remembered, then, the day that Sora had been sitting right there across from him, nagging him about working too hard, before Cloud had appeared out of nowhere like an angel to bring him a potion for relief. It felt like that had been years ago, now.

“Four worlds, Aerith. _Four_ worlds almost fell to darkness while I was—” He shook his head, because he didn’t want to say that it was necessarily a mistake to cut back on his hours and spend so much time with his fiancé. He didn’t want to even think that. But he should have been able to juggle both. And, if he couldn’t, he knew where his priorities _should_ be. “And now Sora is out there having to fix my oversights.”

“You’re the Spymaster of Disney Castle, Leon. You’re not responsible for _every_ world in the Oceans Between.”

Leon snorted. “The Princesses came all this way to help us, and, in exchange, we allowed their worlds to get attacked. It was my job to be keeping an eye on things, and I didn’t, and look what happened. Don’t tell me that this isn’t my fault. Clearly, I haven’t learned a thing in the last decade.”

“Leon…” Aerith didn’t follow his name up with anything else, however, and Leon knew it was because she couldn’t argue with his logic. Maybe she even agreed with him, finally. Maybe she was looking at him and knowing, at last, that this was his fault. “I wish you could hear yourself right now.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing in frustration. “Thanks for the food.”

Eventually, she left, and Leon was able to drown in his reports again in peace. He didn’t lift his head until his stomach growled so loudly that he reached for the Revolver on instinct before realizing he wasn’t under attack. There were no windows in his office for security reasons, so he had no way of judging what time it was if he didn’t leave. Hours or minutes could have passed since Aerith had left. He reached for the now cold food, eating it without tasting it, and watched the door. But no one came. No one was likely to come. Besides Aerith bringing him regular meals and the Organization bringing him regular reports, no one _could_ interrupt him while he was working.

Leon wasn’t used to wanting interruptions.

Once his plate was empty, he pushed himself up and left his office. Of his own free will, even. Aerith would be proud.

But Cloud wasn’t in their room when he got there. He wasn’t in the Inner Courtyard or the Outer Courtyard either. The sun was just inching over the horizon as he walked, which meant that Aerith had brought him _breakfast_ , of all meals, and now Leon really had no idea what day it was. Maybe she was right and he _did_ need to rest. He would consider it, after he found Cloud.

Three more rooms turned up no sign of the blond, and he began to get frustrated even though he was the one who’d fallen out of contact recently. Cloud wouldn’t have gone offworld without telling Leon that he was going, so where the hell was he?

Leon passed by the war room, glancing through the open door even though he knew that Cloud was unlikely to be in there. Something caught his attention, drawing him inside and up to the pin-covered map. Arendelle’s pin was still flickering between bright gold and forest green. DunBroch’s pin was gold again, while the Bayou’s was a spring green blend of the first two colors. Black still coated the pins indicating the Kingdom of Corona and Motonui. But none of those had caught Leon’s attention.

It was the pin in Olympus that had changed, from inky black to a vivid yellow.

“Leon! _There_ you are.” He turned to see Yuffie running into the room, her face pale and her eyes wild. “I’ve been looking—I can’t find Cloud and— _Fuck!_ ”

“Calm down,” he heard himself say, though his mind was still stuck back on that pin, gold for the first time since Leon had moved here. “What’s happening?”

“It’s Pete,” Yuffie managed around her gasping breaths. How many rooms in the castle had she searched, to be this out of breath? “He’s gone.”

Leon knew the answer to his question before he even asked it, but his mouth still formed the words. “Who was supposed to be on shift?”

“Sephiroth,” Yuffie confirmed, still breathing hard. “Pete is gone, and I can’t find Sephiroth or Cloud _anywhere_ and there was _blood_ on the floor when I went down for my shift and—”

“Tell Captains Goofy and Terra about Pete as soon as possible.” Leon turned back to face the map, his eyes narrowed. “As for Sephiroth and Cloud, I think I know where they might be.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be posted on Sunday, May 19th.


	8. Crisis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warning:** There's a lot of blood in this chapter. If you're sensitive to descriptions of blood, skip the opening and ending scenes.

Sunlight seared through Cloud’s eyelids as he slowly gained consciousness. Something rigid and scratchy was pressed against his cheek, his neck jutted at an awkward angle, his body on a flat surface. He didn’t feel the sensation of being watched, at least not right now. All he felt was sunlight on his face and the scent of dust and olive oil on the breeze.

His eyes cracked open, one hand coming up to shield them from the light.

What he saw didn’t make any sense.

Cloud was in the golden courtyard of the Coliseum, his head propped up on the bottom step of the short marble staircase that led into the Lobby. On either side of him, the torches burned in their cauldrons, the crackling red flames flaring with life. Golden statues of gladiators crossed swords above his head, and the Coliseum Gates stood closed on the other side of the courtyard. It was like nothing had changed.

But it was impossible. Olympus had fallen to darkness almost twenty years ago. So how—?

Cloud stretched his memory backward, but there was nothing but darkness between now and when… _Pete_. Pete had opened his cell somehow and rushed Cloud. If not for Sephiroth’s arrival, then – but what happened after that?

Sweat glued him to the inside of his clothes as he pushed himself to his feet, trying to get his bearings. Buster Sword was not strapped to his back, but Cloud spotted the hulking silver shape of it behind the leg of one of the statues. He jogged up the stairs toward it and stopped short.

Sephiroth was lying face down on the marble, crimson blood pooling like a halo around his head.

“No,” Cloud breathed. For a moment, he was twenty years old again, watching people erupt into heartless before his eyes, watching the darkness swallow the pieces of his home, realizing the depths of his own powerlessness and insignificance. One minute he was on his feet yards away and the next he was kneeling at Sephiroth’s side, turning the man over to see the gouge down the side of his face that was still weeping blood. “No, no, no.”

It felt like his heart had stopped until Sephiroth’s eyelids fluttered. He didn’t wake, but he was alive, and that was enough for Cloud to remember to take a breath and then another and then another. His hand moved to Sephiroth’s wrist, where the faint but steady thrum of a pulse did wonders to calm his nerves. Then, he checked the wound, which was not as deep as Cloud had made it out to be. It bled heavily, the way head wounds tended to do, but muscle and bone had not been severed. Sephiroth was unconscious, but fine. They were fine.

 _What is going_ on _?_

Cloud considered, for a moment, that he was asleep next to Leon, having one of his infrequent nightmares, soon to awaken with Leon’s gentle hands on his face and gentle mouth waiting to kiss the darkness away. But Sephiroth’s blood was drying on his fingertips and his face was damp with sweat and the details of this dream were too minute for it to _be_ a dream. Wind kicked up the sand in the courtyard, giving Cloud’s skin the fine layer of grit that he’d forgotten about in the last couple of decades. There was a lingering crack in the marble by his feet, where one tournament competitor had gotten angry and tried to bring down a wall of the Coliseum. And on the pillars that shielded them from view, there were rows upon rows of initials carved into the stone, the vandalism a right of passage for many who lived in Thebes.

Cloud’s own initials were somewhere among them, as were Sephiroth’s. He’d forgotten. There was so much he’d forgotten about his home.

He tore off the bottom of his shirt and pressed it to the side of Sephiroth’s face, staunching the flow of blood even as his mind wandered. Though he had no idea how he’d gotten here or why, he couldn’t help but wish that Leon and Sora were there as well. He and Leon had had many late night talks where they gotten drunk and exchanged fond memories of their respective home worlds.

Sparring with Leon had always made Cloud long to face him in the Coliseum, where particularly skilled warriors could earn trophies and hero licenses and glory that would stretch throughout Olympus. Sora, he knew, would be eager to compete and show off his mettle as well; he could almost _see_ himself and Leon sitting side by side in the stands, cheering Sora on through round after round. And though his hometown had been decimated by a wildfire that had claimed the life of his mother while he was in training with Phil, Cloud wanted to take Leon and Sora to the memorial that stood there now, where they could pay their respects and ask her spirit to watch over their little family.

Those dreams dissipated as quickly as they’d come. Whatever reason Olympus had been restored and Cloud had been brought there couldn’t be good. He steeled himself to say goodbye to his world a second time and rose to his feet to take a better look around.

He hadn’t even taken one step before he spotted someone over by the Coliseum doors.

Pete had the nerve to wave at him. “You’re welcome.”

He smirked, and then disappeared into the Lobby. Cloud hesitated for a moment, glancing down at Sephiroth’s vulnerable body. But he was a captain first and a friend second, and Pete could be the key to getting them both safely back to Disney Castle.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, hoping Sephiroth could somehow hear him. Hoping what he was saying wasn’t a lie. He grabbed Buster Sword on his way toward the doors. “I’ll get us home.”

The inside of the Lobby was exactly the way that Cloud remembered it. There were more fire-bearing cauldrons installed in rectangular holes in the wall on either side of the room. The darkened doorway that led to the arena itself was decorated on the left side by the green-lined board that listed the rules of the various tournaments. Cloud wanted to drift closer to read them again, though he could still recite them from memory. But he didn’t have time. He kept walking.

The stone fighting stage was still ringed by giant columns topped with fire – torches several times Cloud’s height. Pete was waiting at the other end of the stage, framed by the bars of the dungeons opposite the entrance. Sometimes, between tournaments, men would fight animals that were kept in those cages, a sort of weekend entertainment for people who were into that sort of thing. The first time Sephiroth had taken him to watch a match like that – it had been, he remembered, a bout between a warrior and a lion – Cloud had thrown up as the bloodied creature had died right in front of them.

Even though Cloud had gotten the impression that he had enjoyed the carnage, Sephiroth had never taken him to another one.

He had no idea why he was thinking about that now. Seeing Pete here, in this place that had only mostly held good memories for him, was unsettling him in ways he couldn’t explain.

“Well, you caught me,” Pete greeted as Cloud stepped onto the fighting stage, Buster Sword extended toward him. “Now, that ain’t fair. You got that obnoxious sword, and I’ve got nothin’ to defend myself with.”

“You’re a fugitive,” Cloud shot back, advancing slowly. “And you want to talk about fair?”

“You goody goody types are all about bein’ fair.” Pete laughed. “But don’t you worry about little old me. I brought a friend.”

Cloud tensed, expecting Maleficent to appear in a cloud of black smoke and green flame. It made sense, in this nightmare, that he should have to face her here, separated from Disney Castle’s forces and Leon – Leon, who might have no idea where Cloud even was. But Pete was looking at something over Cloud’s shoulder, and he turned to discover that this day still had more unpleasant surprises in store.

Because walking toward him, with rust-colored blood staining the side of his face, was Sephiroth. Masamune was in his hand, and darkness vapored from his body in black and purple tendrils. The vivid green of his eyes had dulled to unfocused seafoam.

“Se…” Cloud faltered, his grip loosening on Buster Sword. “Sephiroth?”

There was no response save for Sephiroth shifting Masamune into the two-handed grip that had spelled the end for many opponents in this very arena. Cloud never thought that he would be one of them. He still couldn’t believe he could be one of them.

“What is this?” he asked, backing toward Pete. He was nowhere near stupid enough to think that turning his back on Sephiroth was a good idea right now. “What have you done to him?”

“I haven’t done a thing,” Pete insisted. “He did this to himself. He wanted the power, but some people just can’t hold their darkness.” Cloud’s stomach dropped to somewhere near his ankles. “It didn’t take, though. Not completely. You see, there’s still one piece of light he’s holdin’ on to: his love for you.”

Cloud couldn’t seem to get enough air as he watched Sephiroth’s fingers twitch on the sword handle. More shadows seemed to pour from him, darker and darker. Or were those just the black spots dancing in Cloud’s vision?

“Until he dumps that, he’ll always be weak.” Pete’s voice seemed to echo through the arena as he walked out between them. Cloud was paralyzed by his shock, unable to so much as swing his sword to stop him. “So if he’s gonna reach his true potential, you and him are gonna have to fight.” Pete tossed a smirk over his shoulder. “Either you kill him, and in doing so kill the last bit of light he’s got left, or he kills you, and frees himself from the burden of having feelings for you. One way or the other, we win.”

Sephiroth didn’t even flinch as Pete strode past him like he was on top of the world. “I’d stick around to see what’s what, but I’ve got some important business to get to. Good luck, you two. I’m sure it’ll be one hell of a fight.”

A pitch black door materialized in front of him – a corridor of darkness – and Pete disappeared inside.

“Sephiroth,” Cloud said around the lump in his throat. “We don’t have to do this. You need to wake up.”

There was no response.

“Sephiroth.”

No sound except for Cloud’s ragged breathing.

“Please—”

That was the last word he managed to get out before Sephiroth attacked.

 

 

Riku held two masks in his hand as he stood in front of his closet. One was for him, though he’d never gotten the chance to wear it. The other had been commissioned on a whim, an impossible dream even before the Diamond Ball had been abruptly, quietly cancelled.

He set his back in the closet and traced a finger over the remaining mask, silver filigree done in the colombina style with upward points on either side of the eyes that somewhat resembled angel wings. Combined with the ivory suit still in the garment bag at the back of Riku’s closet, embroidered with silver thread to match the mask, Sora would have looked absolutely devastating at the masquerade. Even more so next to Riku, in a contrasting black suit with golden threading and a gold filigree half-Volto mask.

Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather hadn’t even blinked at Riku’s request that they surreptitiously create this outfit for Sora, even though they must have known as well as he had that there was no place for Sora at the masquerade ball. It would have been cruel to ask him to come just to watch Riku declare his intention to marry someone else.

But with weeks having gone by since Sora had left, in the middle of the chaos that had erupted in his absence, Riku allowed himself to think of the secret wish in his heart when he’d commissioned this mask.

Riku would be dancing with one of the faceless Princesses the night of the masquerade ball and trying not to look like he was waiting for something. Sora would come through the door, mildly uncomfortable due to the formal suit but hopeful that Riku had called him to the ball room for a good reason. Their eyes would lock over the Princess’ shoulder. Riku would drift closer, taking Sora’s hand and holding on tightly as he declared to the room his intention to marry Sora and no one else but Sora. Pride would be on his parents’ faces because he was finally following his heart. And understanding would be on the Princesses’ faces, because, yes, their time had been wasted, but they knew that true love, once found, must always be fought for. Finally and most importantly, there would be affection in Sora’s eyes as he and Riku danced together, spending the rest of the masquerade ball lost in each other and determined that the two of them together could find a solution to any problem, even one as complicated as the Cornerstone.

And then later, in his room, he would peel Sora out of the suit he’d had made for him piece by piece, swallowing Sora’s throaty moans and whispered curses, trying not to come in his pants when Sora’s fingers tightened in his hair and Sora’s dick dragged against his own. Or maybe they’d fuck, then. Maybe it would be Riku who was prepared that night, with condoms he’d begged Axel to buy in exchange for making no more than five jokes about it, and lube that wasn’t worryingly gray in the bottle. Maybe he would lay Sora out on his bed and finger him – how many could he take? Three? _Four?_ – until he was red-faced and gasping and then slide inside him inch by glorious inch until they were as close as two people could get. Maybe Sora would—

A knock on the door jolted Riku out of his fantasies.

The mask dropped from his fingers, his stomach twisting with guilt. And then he remembered that he didn’t have to feel ashamed of the sometimes explicit thoughts he had about his best friend anymore – except, he remembered with a new wave of guilt, when he was supposed to be getting engaged to someone else.

Although he _wasn’t_ engaged, so where did that leave them?

The knock came again before Riku could sort that out.

It was Queen Elsa, her white gold hair braided into a crown that circled her head and ended in a low bun at the back of her neck. She was always pale, but she looked paler, standing there with a frown as deep as a canyon.

“Your Highness,” she greeted gravely.

“Your Majesty,” Riku murmured, distracted by the gloves that Elsa was wearing. They were a light, calming blue and went almost all the way up to her elbows, but he’d never seen her wear them before. He’d also never seen her like this: fidgety. Her fingers twisted around each other where she had them folded in front of her, and she seemed to radiate a nervous energy unlike her usual calm elegance. “Are you all right?”

Elsa was quiet for a moment too long before speaking. “Yes. I just haven’t heard from Anna yet today…”

To make Elsa’s continued presence in Disney Castle easier, Mickey and Minnie had asked Merlin to stop by Arendelle and set up a screen similar to the one in the Gummi Hangar. Through it, Princess Anna had been checking in to speak to Elsa every other day. They all gave Elsa her privacy, so Riku had no idea what the sisters spoke about. But Elsa always seemed happier afterward, which he supposed was the important thing.

She didn’t look happy now.

“Well, how about we call _her_?” he suggested. “Maybe she’s just lost track of time.”

“I don’t want to interrupt…” But the way that she said it sounded more like _I don’t want to be a bother_.

Riku had a sudden flashback to when he’d been younger and prone to brooding off by himself, as Sora called it, unaware that part of Riku was judging the strength of their friendship by how often Sora sought him out specifically. It was easy, when your mind was unkind to itself, to believe that the people you cared about only hung around you because you’d left them no choice. It was easy to fall into the trap of believing that your desire to be around them was a burden. Riku had never had a sibling, but he knew what it was to love someone more than you were sometimes capable of loving yourself.

And so he said, “She’ll be happy to hear from you.” He held out his hand. “Come on, we’ll go together.”

Elsa hesitated for a moment before sliding her gloved hand into his. “All right.”

Chip and Dale didn’t seem to be around when Riku and the Queen entered the Gummi Hangar. No matter how many times they led her down here, Elsa never seemed to be any less fascinated by it. Arendelle had boats and carts and carriages and sleighs; gummi ships and racing cars were beyond them. Riku let her find some fresh corner of the Hangar to discover while he patched through a call to Arendelle, glad she could find some beauty in this world that must sometimes feel like a prison to her these days.

“Elsa!” Anna answered immediately. She faltered when she saw him, straightening into a more polite posture. “Oh, Your Highness, hello. Hi! Is something wrong with—Elsa!”

The Queen had come into view beside him, her expression warming at the sight of her sister. “Hello, Anna. How is everything?”

Anna beamed. “Everything’s great! Well, I mean, not _great_ -great, you know, with the heartless here. But everything is totally under control. You should’ve seen it, Elsa, Sven stomped one out of existence the other day. Kristoff was like, ‘This is why reindeer are better than people.’ You know that voice he does? Made Sven sound like he was _bragging_ , and Sven was all,” Anna rolled her eyes exaggeratedly to illustrate what was apparently a very expressive reindeer.

Both Anna and Elsa giggled in the exact same way, their shoulders hunched, their eyes closed, their hands over their mouths. Riku smiled as he backed away from Elsa, prepared to leave her to her privacy. He needed to check in with his parents, anyway, and see if they needed him to do anything else to keep Disney Castle running while Leon _and_ Cloud were both gone.

Before he could make it back to the stairs, he heard a _boom_ echo through the Hangar. But nothing shook loose from the ceiling, and the ground didn’t rock under his feet.

Then Elsa said, “What was _that_?” and Riku realized the sound must have come from the communication screen.

By the time he was back at her side, Elsa was watching with muted horror as a burly, blonde man in a fur-lined coat joined Anna on the screen.

“Anna, the castle is under attack, we’ve got to—” The man stopped when he caught sight of the camera. “Oh, er, hello, Elsa. Nothing’s – Nothing’s going on here.”

Anna glared at him.

“Just… Just, uh, a typical day here in Arendelle.” The man, who Riku assumed was Kristoff, scratched the back of his head. “But also Anna and I need to go. Right now. Everything’s fine! But we should leave. Now.”

Anna’s glare intensified just as another _boom_ rang out. This one was so large that Anna tipped sideways into Kristoff’s arms.

“What is going on?” Elsa demanded. “Tell me the truth.”

“We—” But that was as far as Anna got before there was a third _boom_ and the screen suddenly went dark.

Elsa’s hand flew to her mouth, a sob escaping her. Snowflakes appeared in mid-air, surrounding them in a torrential cluster. Her free hand flew over the keys, trying to patch the call through again, but her fingers were shaking too much and Riku could see that she didn’t know what she was doing. He reached out to catch her hand before she broke the communicator and flinched back. Ice was coating her gloves and had crept halfway to his first knuckle just from the simple contact.

He scrubbed it off and blew on his fingers before he could get frostbite. “Your Majesty—”

“I’m sorry,” she blurted. Around them, the snowflakes were suspended, but didn’t disappear. “I didn’t—Sometimes I can’t control—Are you—”

Riku rubbed his hands together to warm them up faster. “Don’t worry about me. Your sister…”

Elsa’s lips wobbled, but she tipped her chin up. “I promised I’d stay here. I promised you, and I promised her. Anna will be fine.”

“Elsa—”

“This is clearly a trap. Maleficent must be launching an attack on Arendelle to get me to leave so that she can redouble her efforts here. We can’t give her what she wants.”

“Elsa—”

“Anyway, I won’t be of any help to Anna like this. With my powers like this. I’ll only hurt—”

“ _Elsa_.” The Queen finally stopped talking, her throat bobbing as she swallowed hard. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears, and Riku could see exactly how heavy this sacrifice had been for her. “Elsa, you have to go. Arendelle needs you. _You’re_ their queen, not Anna. And Anna needs you. You’re her sister. You’d never forgive yourself if something happened to her because you weren’t there. And I’d never forgive myself if I let you live with that guilt.”

“But Disney Castle—”

“Disney Castle will be fine,” Riku said, though he wasn’t sure that was true. “This is always how this was going to end. Either we’re ready to meet it, or we never had a chance. And I want to believe we’re ready.”

“Riku…”

He smiled, making it as reassuring as he could. “Thank you for everything, Elsa. I don’t have many friends, but I hope I can now count you among them.”

“Of course.” Elsa’s voice was fierce, but her smile was sad and grateful and affectionate and hopeful all at once. “Riku, of _course_.”

They shook on it, and it felt as momentous as a promise. Around them, the snowflakes began to fall gently to the floor until they were gone entirely.

Riku’s smile faded into a determination frown. “You wait here. We’ll send you out with the first ship, but Arendelle needs a keyblade wielder and we’ve only got one left available.”

 

 

“Blizzard!”

Kairi aimed the spray of ice crystals toward Axel as he tried to dart out of the way, dogging his every step with her magic. The spell stopped before he did, and then it was her turn to leap out of the way of a well-timed Thunder. She rolled back onto her feet as he came at her, but their keyblades had hardly managed to connect before Master Yen Sid called time.

Not that time had much of a meaning in this realm that Merlin had created.

“You’re getting stronger every day here, Axel,” Master Yen Sid said, sliding his hands into his billowing sleeves. “And great tactical thinking, Kairi. It’s that kind of skill that will make your Mark of Mastery exam a breeze for you, should you choose to take it one day.”

Kairi tried not to blossom under the praise, but it was hard. Axel always received kind or critical words from Yen Sid with the same kind of casual insouciance, like it didn’t matter to him what the master thought. But Kairi had cared very much even before she’d found out that she was a Princess of Heart. Now, every comment about her increasing strength was ten times as validating.

“I am going to head back to the Tower, but feel free to remain here and do more exercises.” Yen Sid disappeared in a flash of light. He would arrive in the Mysterious Tower mere minutes after he’d left it to bring them here, even though it had been hours for them. The sun was still sitting in the same low position in the sky, a permanent dawn or dusk.

Kairi dismissed Destiny’s Embrace and stretched her arms over her head. “I am so _beat_. Do you want to take a break?”

“A break to do what?” Axel asked, tapping his keyblade against the back of his boot. Unlike her, he rarely took the opportunity to dismiss it between spars. Kairi thought part of him was still afraid that he wouldn’t be able to summon it again if he did. When she didn’t answer right away, he threw his free hand out in a gesture toward the greenery. “There’s a whole lot of nothing here to entertain us. We could take a walk?”

A walk with Axel didn’t sound like the _worst_ thing in the world. “Try not to walk too fast. Some of us have short legs.”

His eyes flicked down to her legs, bare as always beneath her skirt, and lingered. Kairi’s cheeks felt warm when his gaze met hers again. “I think you’ll be fine.”

“Let’s just go!”

If her voice came out as more of a squeak, he was polite enough not to mention it.

Walking through the woods was something of a crapshoot. Merlin appeared to have gone to the trouble to only make about one-fourth of a full forest. Walking far enough just returned them to the same clearing that they had just left, with the cliff face off to the right where they could sit and watch the sky. Birdsong trilled through the trees, though Kairi couldn’t see any actual birds, and sunlight poked through the foliage no matter where the sun supposedly was in the sky.

Axel huffed the sixth time they ended up back in the clearing. “What, was it too much magical effort to make a full forest?”

“I’m sure Merlin had his reasons,” Kairi said, stomping down on the urge to giggle. “Maybe he didn’t want us to have any distractions?”

“And yet I’m distracted wondering where the hell the rest of the forest is.”

Kairi’s giggle shook loose. Axel was sitting cross-legged in the grass now, so she joined him, tucking her legs underneath herself and toying with the ends of her hair. It was getting long again, past her shoulders, which meant it was time for a haircut. She just hadn’t had time with everything going on.

Speaking of everything going on… “Hey, before… before everything with the Princesses, what were you going to tell me?”

“Oh, that,” Axel said smoothly. “It’s not important anymore."

He had that look on his face, the one that said that if she tried to push then he would shut down entirely. Kairi had no idea when she’d come to learn his face like that. Or maybe she did know and didn’t want to. She curled a lock of her auburn hair tight around her finger as she tried not to look directly at the realization that had been hovering at the edge of her consciousness for weeks. A realization that would be unfair to both of them.

Kairi scooted closer to him, but, unlike at the bar, he made no move to put his arm around her back. He wasn’t even looking at her, instead focused on some random point in the middle distance. Kairi knew how to catch his attention and hold it, though. She knew he had a protective, heroic heart, even if he covered it with thorns. She knew he never took anything seriously when he could offer a pithy comment instead. She knew he kept his cards close to his chest because he’d been hurt before he lost everything and probably again afterward.

She knew she’d maybe liked him for a while. Honestly, it was hard not to like him. But she also knew a thing or two about timing. And there was a crack in her heart that made it a poor gift for anyone right now.

“What are you thinking about so hard?” he asked, snapping her out of her own head. “You’re making that—” his brows furrowed, his lips pouted, and he went as far as to suck his cheeks in to make them narrow like hers, “Face.”

Kairi laughed. “Yes, that is most definitely my thinking face.” He grinned back at her, and she averted her eyes, clearing her throat. “I was just – are you doing anything later?”

“Later than this?” Axel shrugged. “Nothing, I guess. I don’t have a mission or anything. Why?”

“Want to get dinner?”

As soon as she asked, she wanted to snatch the words back. Axel had spent all day – for them, anyway – training with her and now she was asking him to spend even more time with her? Sure, they were together a lot incidentally these days, but this would be different. This was _purposeful_. Though she had been the one to ask him to spend more time with her as friends, something about this didn’t feel friendly. It was on the tip of her tongue to insist that he invite Roxas, and maybe even Hayner, Pence, and Olette along too, when Axel grinned again.

“Sure, let’s get dinner.” He pushed himself onto his feet. “But in the meantime, break’s over. Get your keyblade out. Loser’s paying.”

 

 

Sora watched the stars flicker between the boughs of the cypress trees that hung abundant over the stream.

The Bayou was alive with the songs of nature even now in the dead of night. Crickets whispered a lilting melody. Frogs croaked a bass line. Water sluiced around their boat, water that was teeming with creatures that apparently didn’t know sleep. Fireflies lit the way Tiana and Naveen were steering, the way Mama Odie had told them led to the world’s keyhole. Two stars beamed particularly bright every time Sora caught sight of them, steady and warm.

“Is that Evangeline and Ray?” he asked, pointing at them.

Tiana glanced up, her dimples blooming in her cheeks. “Yeah, it is. They’re always watchin’ over us, even after all this time.”

“It is beautiful,” Naveen murmured, but his eyes were on Tiana. “I miss them.”

Their gazes met and held. They’d been doing this a lot in the last few days that Sora had been here, so he did what he usually did and kept quiet while they had their moment. Part of him found it amusing, the way the two of them danced around the fact that they so clearly wanted to get back together, but part of him was sad, too. He missed Riku all the time, but never so much as when he was trapped in a narrow boat, surrounded by pure love and majestic scenery that he wanted to share with his best friend.

He touched his pocket, where Riku’s note rested, his stomach filling with butterflies. Sora loved traveling, and he loved feeling like he was helping people in any way he could. He really did. But for the first time since he’d ever set foot in a gummi ship, he couldn’t wait to go home.

“I think we’ve found it,” Tiana said suddenly, reaching down to the floor of the boat to get her rolling pin. She and Naveen had been holding their own against the heartless with a rolling pin and a small guitar respectively as their weapons. “And we’ve got company.”

 _Heart… world… heart… eat…_ Sora heard over the chirping of the crickets, the slithering whisper of the heartless slicing through his brain. Their voices rose and fell over each other, pulsating like the hearts they wanted to steal. _Need… heart… need…_

His bag was at his feet, but he didn’t even reach for it. He hadn’t changed his keychain since Riku had given him Oblivion, and he doubted he would need to now.

Louis the alligator emerged from the dark stream onto the bank and dried himself with a lily pad as they disembarked. Sora laughed as the fireflies sped around him one last time before streaming away into the sky like they were stars, too.

“They said they hope they’ll see you again,” Naveen told him with a grin. “Looks like you made quite an impression on Ray’s family.”

“Bye!” Sora called after them, waving both arms. “It was great to meet you! Next time, I’ll try and bring Riku and Kairi so you can meet them, too!”

Once the fireflies were out of view, he summoned Oblivion to his hand and turned. The moonlit path through the marsh led to a small clearing that was overrun with heartless. This many heartless at once was a sure sign that the keyhole was here, and they’d gotten to it just in time. If too many of them climbed inside, they would consume the Bayou’s heart and the world would disappear with or without Tiana.

“Ready to save the day again?” he heard Tiana ask behind him, her voice low and flirty.

“You know it,” Naveen answered, his voice equally warm.

“All right, you two,” Sora grumbled good-naturedly. “Some of us are a whole universe away from our boyfriends, so.”

Tiana came up beside him, smirking. “Boyfriend? Is that right?”

Sora realized what he’d said and went red. “Oh, hey, look, some heartless to stop!”

It was honestly a relief to run toward the shadows with his keyblade held high, considering how effective it was at ending the conversation. With DunBroch now under his belt, fighting the heartless felt so easy that it was instinct. Turn and slash. Leap and slice. Dodge roll and undercut. Thunder. Fire. Cure.

Tiana smashed a heartless in the face with her rolling pin and then ducked so that Naveen could leapfrog over her and take out two more with his guitar. Louis alternated between running away from clusters of heartless and then playing his trumpet at them so loudly that they exploded. And Sora ran through the chaos, slicing everywhere he heard a sinister whisper. Even with the night on their side, the heartless and their empty glowing eyes were easy to spot.

But there were so many of them here.

And Sora was getting tired.

He knew they were in trouble when he heard Louis wheeze his way through a weak note on his trumpet before falling over, his energy sapped and his lungs probably screaming from the effort. Naveen and Tiana were backed into a corner, taking turns limply swinging their weapons to keep the heartless from getting too close. And Sora wanted to sit down so badly it felt like his legs were shaking, but there were heartless on every side and he couldn’t. He _couldn’t_.

Riku’s letter was burning a hole in his pocket. He had to get home. He had to save the worlds and get _home_. He’d promised Kairi, and _Riku_ —

“Need a hand?”

Sora looked up to see none other than Roxas running into the clearing, both of his keyblades in hand and a savage smile on his face. “What the—”

“You should’ve just let me come in the first place,” Roxas said by way of explanation before tearing through the heartless like they were tissue paper.

Sora could only gape for a moment as Roxas flashed this way and that, a one-man killing machine, taking out more heartless in thirty seconds than they had in the entire time they’d been fighting together. Had Roxas been stowing away on the gummi ship and Sora just hadn’t noticed? It… wasn’t impossible, honestly. How else could he be here?

Then Sora realized how little that mattered right now and caught his second wind with a laugh. “Hey, leave some for me!”

Between the two of them, the crowd of heartless began to thin, enough for Tiana, Louis, and Naveen to rest before rejoining the fight. Tiana took out the last heartless with a backhand from her rolling pin and then pushed her dark curls off of her damp face with a gulp of air.

“God, I feel like I’ve spent all day in the kitchen, but worse,” she managed before collapsing to the ground. Naveen plopped down next to her, and she rested her cheek on his shoulder. “Let’s lock that keyhole and get outta here.”

“You guys should watch the stream,” Roxas suggested. “That way if more heartless come this way, we’ll have a little warning.”

Tiana frowned. “Shouldn’t I stay by the—”

“You heard the man,” Naveen said, standing up and pulling her up along with him. “Let’s go wait by the boat, yes? Over there. Where we can talk. _Alone_.”

Tiana laughed, her cheeks darker than usual, and then they were gone. Louis grinned at Sora and started making kissy faces so funny that Sora had to hide a snicker. When the alligator slithered off after them, likely to spy, Sora didn’t stop him. He didn’t need them to close the keyhole anyway.

“So, how exactly did you get here?” he asked as he approached the glowing outline of the open keyhole that had started this mess.

“I flew, same as you,” Roxas said from somewhere behind him. “Arendelle’s in more trouble than we realized, so Riku sent me and the Queen out.”

“Queen Elsa’s left Disney Castle?” Sora would have whirled around if not for the fact that his keyblade had recognized the keyhole and was floating up in his hands into position to lock it. “But that means – wait. If you’re supposed to be in Arendelle, what are you doing _here_?”

“Whatever it takes.”

Sora’s brows furrowed in confusion, but before he could ask what Roxas meant, something flashed to his left. He barely got out of the way in time to keep his keyblade from being cut in half by—

By—

“Roxas, what the _hell_ are you doing?” Sora raised his keyblade to block another strike from Roxas, skidding back over the grass. “Stop it!”

“Listen,” Roxas returned, his face blank as he struck again and again and again. “I want you to know it’s nothing personal.”

“This feels pretty personal!”

Roxas’ next strike knocked Oblivion clear out of Sora’s hands. Sora glowered at his former friend as Roxas brought the point of one of his keyblades to his throat, making it more than clear that if Sora tried to summon it back then Roxas would kill him. And in this moment, Sora didn't doubt that Roxas _would_.

“Sorry, Sora.” And the worst part of it all was that Roxas did genuinely look sorry, even though his keyblade didn’t waver. “I really am.”

Then Roxas brought his second keyblade down, knocking Sora off his feet, across the clearing, and straight through the open keyhole.

And as Sora plunged into the darkness beyond worlds, his last thought was, _Riku, I’m sorry._

 

 

Coming back from training at the Mysterious Tower was always disorienting when they went into the timeless realm, but the entire day had been disorienting for Kairi regardless.

Queen Elsa and Roxas were gone. Riku, King Mickey, and Queen Minnie were reevaluating security since half the Black Coats had gone with Leon and now they were short an Organization member. Kairi was glad she had the dinner with Axel to distract her from how little help she could be to them. To any of them. She wondered if they all thought that when they looked at her.

“You all right?” Axel asked when she met him at the castle doors. Even though she was just wearing another set of battle clothes, he still gave her an approving once over as she approached, and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. At least she knew _he_ didn’t think that when he looked at her.

“I’m good,” she said, grabbing his arm. “It’s also really nice out today. What do you say we eat outside?”

Axel sounded a little choked when he said, “Yeah, that’s cool.” Kairi hid her smile again.

They ended up getting takeout and eating it on the same ridge where she thought they’d really begun to understand each other. The Raceway was closed down for the moment and had been since Pete’s arrest, but the basketless hot air balloons still hovered in the sky, lending Disney Castle a festive air. Kairi couldn’t believe that it had only been a few weeks ago that Riku was going to get married to save this kingdom. She couldn’t believe that all of their careful planning had come to nothing.

Maleficent would soon come to destroy all of this, and they’d have to find a new way to stop her before then. How could _anyone_ want to destroy a beautiful haven like Disney Castle? Kairi just didn’t understand.

“Do you think we can win?” she asked, startling Axel out of the companionable silence they had been sitting in. “Against Maleficent, I mean. Without a Princess of Heart.”

“Anything’s possible,” he answered after a moment. “Especially since you’re here.”

Kairi scoffed. “I’m defective, remember?”

“I hated you a month ago, remember?” Axel pointed out. “When you put your mind to something, miracles happen.”

“You didn’t hate me. You just didn’t want to like me. There’s a difference. And I don’t know if determination is enough to win this war.”

“You’re always underestimating yourself.”

“You’re always _over_ estimating me.” She ducked her head, letting herself smile for the first time. “Thanks for that.”

His answering smile was a fleeting thing, but it still warmed Kairi from the inside. Stupid feelings. Stupid heart. She knew they were complicated things, but being able to ache for a love she could never have while being intrigued by the possibility of one she wasn’t ready for just seemed like an unfair use of an organ. She wanted to finish feeling one thing before she was forced to deal with another, but her, what, attraction? Her attraction to Axel kept making itself known at the most inconvenient of times.

Worse, she never had any idea what he was thinking when he stared at her the way he did. If he even thought of her that way or if he’d just never met someone like her before and didn’t know how to handle it. Why did she have to be the only one tripping over this all the time? Was there even a _this_?

“Kairi.”

She blinked, glancing over at him. “What?”

He was pointing below them, at the Raceway. The Raceway that was filling with figures. Not people or animals, which would have been normal, but heartless. The big, red, floating heartless that Maleficent had sent to the castle. If they leaked out into Disney Town…

Kairi and Axel were on their feet within seconds of each other. He summoned his keyblade and grinned as he turned his back to the cliff. “Meet you down there.” And then he fell backward off the top, because he was a show off who had taken to the Aero spell perhaps a little too well.

She called Destiny’s Embrace to her hand and dived after him.

An embrace of wind wrapped around her body and gusted her gently to the ground in the midst of the battle. Axel was already holding his own against two of the heartless, but four more were headed for his back. Kairi brought her strongest lightning down on them, feeling gratified when one of them blew up. At least her magic was always there when she needed it.

“We’ve got to get back to the castle and warn the king!” Kairi called over her shoulder as she hacked at another heartless. She grit her teeth as it attacked her with lightning of its own, sending her flying back into one of the others. “This could just be the first wave of Maleficent’s attack!”

“Herd ‘em my way!” Axel replied. “I have an idea!”

Kairi cast a quick Cure to recover and charged up for a Flower Shoot. The heartless drifted out of the way to avoid the attack, inadvertently bringing themselves closer to Axel.

Axel dismissed his keyblades and put out both arms to summon his chakrams instead. First, they caught fire and then columns of pure flame rose up all around him in response, incinerating the heartless one by one. Kairi’s eyebrows lifted.

“That’s… way stronger than any Fire spell you've cast with your keyblade,” she said, a little awed. “What do you need that thing for again?”

Axel grinned at the praise, his eyes seeming to be ablaze as well. She’d never seen someone look so at home in the middle of a firestorm, and there was something beautiful about it. But even with the heartless gone, the flames had yet to bank.

“I think we’re clear—”

Something shot out of the ground in front of her, but it wasn’t Axel’s flame. A surging swarm of shadows punched toward the sky in a seething cluster of eyes and hearts and antenna that cackled with purple lightning. Kairi took a step back, her hand tightening on her keyblade, her heart skipping a beat in her chest.

“Axel… run!”

Of course, he didn’t listen. Axel threw first one chakram and then the other at the demon tide, but they bounced off as harmlessly as raindrops. The swarm raced down toward her, and Kairi ran, though she had no idea where she was going. Her keyblade couldn’t destroy so many of them at once. _She_ couldn’t destroy so many of them at once. She threw Thundagas and Firas and Gravitys over her shoulder, but none of them did more than knock a few of the shadows loose from the horde to menace Axel from the ground.

She hit the entrance of the Raceway and found it locked, which she should have expected. Her hands fumbled to point her keyblade at the lock.

Kairi looked over her shoulder to see how much time she had and her eyes widened. Behind her, the heartless were an implacable force, but that was not what had caught her attention.

It was Axel.

Axel, whose chakrams were lost and whose keyblade was gone and whose hands were folded behind his back. Axel, who was just _watching_ as she struggled with the door, an unreadable expression on his face. Axel, who didn’t seem at all surprised when a black doorway opened beside him and none other than Maleficent stepped out.

Axel, who moved only to give his usual mocking salute to Maleficent and then disappear into the doorway.

Maleficent smirked at Kairi from the other side of the Raceway and then lifted her glowing staff. Black thorns coated the door just as the lock clicked open, trapping Kairi once more.

Trapping Kairi here alone, because Axel had left her. With Maleficent. Axel was working with Maleficent.

And the heartless swarm was coming.

Kairi lifted her arms and her keyblade over her head as if that could help her ward them off, the shock of the betrayal causing everything she’d ever learned to fly out of her head in the moment that she needed it most.

And the tide swept her away.

 

 

Cloud covered his mouth with his hand as he hid behind a pillar, trying not to alert Sephiroth to his location. He was unsteady on his feet and had lost track of all the places he was bleeding from, but Sephiroth didn’t even seem to be winded. Whatever Pete had done to him, whatever the darkness had done to him, it had only made an already unstoppable soldier even more so.

He wasn’t sure how much longer he could go on like this.

The marble exploded above him, and Cloud threw himself out of the way as Sephiroth sliced straight through it to get to him. It collapsed in on itself, showering the arena with sparks of flame from the cauldron that toppled down with it. Cloud rolled clear of the wreckage, continuing to roll until he could stand again with Buster Sword extended.

Masamune arced down to meet him immediately.

Sephiroth’s eyes didn’t show even a spark of recognition, and hadn’t for hours, but Cloud kept trying anyway. “Hey. Hey, you’ve got to still be in there. You need to wake up.”

He was being pushed backward across the fighting stage, his feet slipping on the stone floor as Sephiroth pressed with more and more force. But Cloud kept trying anyway. “Whatever Pete’s done to you, we can undo it. Together. But you need to wake up.”

He nearly tipped over as he reached the edge, his grip on Buster Sword wavering as he fought to keep his balance. But Cloud kept trying. He had to keep trying. He owed Sephiroth that much. “I don’t want to hurt you. Please don’t make me.”

Shadowy vapor poured uninhibited from Sephiroth’s body. He raised Masamune in the air again.

Cloud shot forward and slashed him across the chest, sending Sephiroth flying back. He pressed his advantage, appearing behind Sephiroth and slamming him in the opposite direction, again and again until Sephiroth was more of a ping-pong ball than a person. Cloud threw everything he had left into this final surge, because he needed this to be over once and for all. He needed to stop whatever Pete was planning and he needed to tell Leon what was happening and he needed Sephiroth to be _fucking unconscious already_.

Sephiroth hit the stands so hard that he carved a crater three feet deep in the stone. Cloud used his sword as a cane to keep himself standing, breathing hard as he watched and waited for Sephiroth to emerge.

Instead, he heard something that may as well have been the most beautiful sound in the world for how badly he needed it right then.

It was the sound of a gummi ship landing.

Cloud turned to see a small gummi descending beyond the building, in the courtyard. Considering the day he was having, he half-expected it to be Pete returning to make sure that one of them was dead. But instead he heard his name being shouted again and again, and one familiar voice rose up above the rest.

“Here! Leon, I’m here!” he shouted back.

Cloud started to limp toward the entrance, but he need not have bothered. Leon came charging into the arena seconds later, the Revolver in his hands. Behind him was Tifa, gloved fists clenched, Aerith, a belt of Ether potions slung low on her hips, and Zack, wielding his own Buster Sword. Leon didn’t even pause to survey the wreck that Cloud and Sephiroth had made of the Coliseum. Instead, he shoved his gunblade back into its holster and threw his arms around Cloud as soon as he got close enough.

“Are you okay?” he demanded, though his hands were gentle as they surveyed the worst of Cloud’s injuries. “What happened?”

“I have no idea,” Cloud said, unable to keep the weak smile off his face. “God, you look good.”

“You’re delirious from blood loss,” Leon shot back, but he was smiling, too. “ _Fuck_ , Cloud, I thought you were—”

“I’m okay.” He pressed his forehead against Leon’s and closed his eyes as the rest of his team reached him. “I’m okay. But Sephiroth is—”

“Sephiroth!” Aerith cried. “Cloud, look out—”

Cloud heard a squelch and a gasp, and for a moment he thought it had come from her. But when he opened his eyes, Aerith was a few feet away, her hands covering her mouth. Tifa and Zack flanked her, wide-eyed, and Cloud wondered why until silver hair fluttered down in front of him like a curtain. He realized that Masamune was curving through the air, clenched between Sephiroth’s hands as he hovered above them.

And the point of the sword was sticking through Leon’s chest, carefully stopped right before it could touch Cloud’s too.

Leon made another sound, his face pale, his eyes glossy. Blood gushed between them, coating Cloud until he could no longer tell from looking which one of them was bleeding. Which one of them was dying.

“No,” the word shook its way out of his mouth in a breathless whisper. “Don’t.”

But Sephiroth pulled Masamune free, spraying even more blood everywhere. Without the sword to hold him up, Leon began to collapse against him as Cloud’s arms hung uselessly at his sides. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe. Leon’s blue-gray eyes began to flicker, and Cloud couldn’t look away.

 _No._ The word didn’t make it out this time. _No_.

Leon was on his knees now and then he was tipping sideways and then he was on the ground, sprawled out like a puppet with cut strings. And Sephiroth landed calmly behind him, sheathing his still damp sword and smirking at Cloud as a black doorway opened behind him. He stepped back into the corridor of darkness, which winked out a moment later, and then and only then did Cloud finally manage to move.

Between one blink and the next, he at Leon’s side, taking Leon’s hand in both of his, bringing it to his lips to kiss. “You’ll be okay,” he managed, even though the floor seemed to be painted crimson. “You’ll be okay. It’ll be okay.”

Leon’s gaze was unfocused.

“It’ll be okay. You’ll be okay. Please be okay.”

“Cloud. Hey, buddy, you need to move, all right?” The voice seemed to come from miles away. Where could it have come from, when he and Leon were the only two people left in the world? “You need to let Aerith do her thing. He’s not gone yet, Cloud. Just let Aerith do her thing, all right? Come over here. You’re just in the way. Cloud, come on, _get up_.”

Someone was screaming.

His throat hurt.

Leon’s blood was everywhere.

The screaming. The blood. Oh, god, the _blood_.

“Cloud!”

Leon’s eyes fell shut, and Cloud broke into a million pieces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be posted on Sunday, June 2nd.


	9. Choices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's technically Monday where I am, but, in my defense, I spent most of Sunday in the hospital and just woke up.
> 
>  **Warning:** Vaguely suicidal comment, more mentions of blood, and Larxene's general existence.

At first, Kairi couldn’t tell that her eyes were open. She was in a darkness so pure that it felt like a living creature wrapping around her, mocking her attempts to breathe. Her eyes adjusted slowly, too slowly, slow enough that her memories made their way back to her and clogged her throat with a half-formed sob.

Axel was working with Maleficent.

He’d passed her over to Maleficent the way one might pass a work memo to be someone else’s problem. As if she mattered less than the paper it was printed on. As if they hadn’t—

Kairi swallowed her emotions back and surveyed what she could see of her surroundings through the glass cage she was apparently encased in. Her cage was in some kind of hall that was lined with golden cauldrons, all of them unlit. A crimson carpet lined the floor beneath them, matching the red in the large, otherwise black symbol that decorated the center of the room. Something was wrong with the wall across from her, but she couldn’t see well enough to tell what, only that it was emitting a faint blue glow.

Her heart ached as she looked around the room, but she couldn’t tell why. Only that something about this place felt… familiar.

She heard a door open and flinched. But before she could decide between pressing herself against the glass and pretending to be unconscious again, she recognized the slightly muffled voices she could now hear. Her hands curled into fists at her sides, but she didn’t summon her keyblade. Not yet. Not until it was the right moment.

“—success,” said Axel, as casual as always. Like he had never betrayed her. Them. “That was overkill.”

“It was effective. She can tell me what to do, but not how to do it,” Roxas replied seconds before he came into view, hauling something fairly large over his shoulder. Axel was on his far side, barely visible beyond Roxas’ package, his telltale upside down teardrop tattoos like ink stains on his otherwise pale face. “Where do you want her?”

“The empty one’s over here.” Axel gestured toward something on Kairi’s right. “I think that’s all of them, so it won’t be long now.”

Roxas carefully set his package down on the ground and then unwrapped the tarp and ropes that bound it. Except it wasn’t an _it_ at all. The fabric parted to reveal the still face of Tiana, the Princess of Heart from the Bayou, bugs and leaves tangled in her dark curls. Kairi couldn’t tell if she was breathing, if she was even still alive. She gasped, her hands flying to cover her mouth.

But it was too late. Axel and Roxas turned to look at her in one creepy motion. She backed away from the glass, though there was nowhere behind her to go.

“Your girlfriend’s awake,” Roxas drawled.

Her face burned. And that, of all things, was the last straw. “How could you?” she shouted, pressing against the glass again to glare at both of them. “How could you guys betray your friends like this? How long have you been working with Maleficent?”

Roxas communicated something to Axel with his eyebrows and then picked Tiana up like a sack of flour and walked away. Axel approached her glass cage at a leisurely pace, his hands in his pockets, confident, she supposed, that there was nothing Kairi could do to hurt him from in here. His state of relaxation only made her want to hurt him _more_.

“The Organization,” he said, “Has been working for Maleficent since long before we ever came to Disney Castle. You’re late to the party, princess.”

Kairi hated the warmth that buoyed her heart at the familiar nickname. She snuffed it out like a candle as the rest of his words sank in and her eyes widened at the implications. Part of her had hoped that it had just been Axel and Roxas, if it had to be anyone who was working against Riku and the king and queen. The entire Organization – thirteen people, and Leon’s entire spy network – having been in Maleficent’s pocket the entire time was bad. Very bad.

And she had no way to warn Riku.

Wait.

“Sora was with Tiana,” she said. “If Tiana is here, where’s Sora?”

“Busy.” Roxas crossed back in front of the glass, but didn’t linger there the way Axel was. She didn’t know whether he was just that focused on his work or if he didn’t want to face her considering what he had done, but she didn’t need to see him to hear the impatience in his voice. “Worry about yourself.”

“ _Where’s Sora_?” she snarled at Axel, but he only chuckled.

“You really should worry about yourself. Tiana’s not the only Princess here. At this point, you’re the only one that she needed for – ah, speak of the Mistress of Evil.”

Kairi hadn’t heard a door open, but seconds later Maleficent was there in all her black and green glory. The tip of her magic staff glinted in the gloom. Maleficent lifted the staff and circles of light flickered into view, illuminating what appeared to be a corridor. Something about it felt familiar again, but Kairi still couldn’t place it. For the first time, though, she could see that the strange wall across from her was another glass cage, now full of blue light, in which Princess Anna appeared to be asleep.

“She’s awake,” Maleficent said, peering at Kairi like she was a bug beneath a microscope. “You weren’t exaggerating about this one being special.”

Axel’s lips tipped up into a smirk. “More special than even she knows.”

“And you’re certain that she is Disney Castle’s Princess of Heart?”

“Yep. King Mickey’s own secret weapon.”

Maleficent hummed thoughtfully. “Will the cage contain her?”

“It’s doing a good job so far.” Axel’s met Kairi's gaze and winked. “Besides, what power does she have to stop you?”

“Hm.” Maleficent stepped closer. “Show me your keyblade, child.”

Kairi glared at her, fully prepared to fold her arms and dig in her feet as a visual representation of the words _fuck you_. But then Maleficent’s staff glowed again and two things happened in quick succession: Destiny’s Embrace appeared in Kairi’s hand in a shower of white light and then it disappeared. Suddenly, Maleficent was the one holding it, though she appeared to know better than to try wielding it.

Instead, she turned it over in her hand, eyeing the flowers that made up the teeth. “Quite ostentatious, isn’t it?” She scoffed. “Roxas. Come here. Take care of this.”

Once again, Roxas marched into view. Once again, he was carrying something – _someone_. The tarp had already fallen enough for Kairi to see that it was Queen Elsa hoisted over his shoulder this time, even before Roxas carefully set her down and examined the keyblade.

He summoned one of his two Kingdom Keys and then brought it down hard. Destiny’s Embrace cleaved in two, the top half clattering to the ground. Kairi’s stomach dropped with it.

“You—” Her keyblade had been reduced to little more than a golden stick with a heart-shaped handle. Broken. Unusable. Useless. “How—”

Axel picked up the other half and spun it on the end of one finger. “I’ve got to head back to the Castle and check in. Do you need anything else, Your Evilness?”

Annoyance flickered across Maleficent’s face, a blatant show of emotion that brought Kairi back to herself. Annoyance meant disunity and disunity was something she could use. She didn’t know how yet and she didn’t know when, but she was not without weapons just because—

She held back another choking sob, forcing herself to focus. Her keyblade was destroyed and she was trapped, but she was alive and she could observe. Learn. _Help_. Somehow. She just had to be patient.

“Help Roxas put the last of the Princesses in their cages,” Maleficent said, apparently deciding to let the sarcastic nickname go. “Pete and the Organization will move on Disney Castle by nightfall, so make sure you’re in position.”

Axel saluted, an action which managed to come across as even more sarcastic than his tone, but Maleficent said nothing else before sweeping out. Roxas picked up Queen Elsa and shuffled out of view as well, leaving Kairi alone with Axel.

They watched each other as if it were any old day in the castle, a different kind of tension stretching taut between them. Kairi searched his face for some kind of sign, some kind of tell, some kind of evidence that this was who he had always been. But he looked the same: same vivid red hair, same teardrop tattoos, same amused glint in his green eyes like he knew something that you didn't and you wanted to find out what it was. Maleficent’s minion had talked with her and laughed with her and sparred with her. He’d held her as she cried and given her advice when she’d despaired and he’d made her feel like she was less alone than she’d tried to convince herself she was. He’d been her friend. He’d been… close to something more.

He’d betrayed her. Kidnapped her. Locked her in this cage.

And now he had the goddamn nerve to _stare_ at her like nothing had changed. Like he had the right.

Axel laughed, all of a sudden, more of an exasperated puff of air than a true sound. “You’re not afraid of us, are you? I can see it in your eyes. You think you’ll get out of this.”

“I know I’ll get out of this,” Kairi replied. Simple. Certain. “And you’d better make sure I don’t find you when I do.”

A smile lingered on his face. “Looking forward to it, princess.”

His hands slid into his pockets and he finally turned away. Kairi didn’t know if he was planning to leave or if he was just heading to help Roxas finish his work, but either way she felt a rush of fear at the thought of being left alone here in this museum of comatose Princesses.

“Wait. Where am I?” she called. It felt like the least important question in the grand scheme of things when she knew there was no help for her here, but that sense of déjà vu just wouldn’t go away.

Axel seemed surprised when he paused to glance at her over his shoulder. “You couldn’t tell? This is Hollow Bastion. Or, as it was formerly called, Radiant Garden.” He spread his arms like a ringleader introducing a circus. “Welcome home, Kairi.”

 

 

Cloud couldn’t remember much about his life after Olympus had fallen.

He got like that sometimes. People responded to trauma in all kinds of ways and Cloud’s way was to shut down completely, like a gummi ship that had run out of fuel. He still existed, he could move and be moved, but he wasn’t _present_. Zack said he’d been like that for a year afterward. Sephiroth said it had been two. But Cloud’s strongest memory after the fall had been waking up in the middle of the night, lying in the circle of Sephiroth’s arms, and realizing he felt hunger as something other than a distant biological need. He’d carefully crawled out of bed without waking Sephiroth and found his way to the Disney Castle kitchens more on instinct than conscious knowledge. There, he’d stumbled upon Leon, passed out next to a beer and an open book on childcare and development.

Cloud remembered feeling strange about that. The fact that Leon was clearly overwhelmed by the task of taking care of an orphaned boy from a fallen island but was that dedicated to trying to do it right. His hazy memories of Leon as an antisocial grouch hadn’t stood up under the assault of a sleepy, embarrassed Leon who nonetheless lit up like a proud parent when Cloud had haltingly asked how Sora was doing.

Sora. God.

Cloud blinked for what felt like the first time, realizing that Tifa and Zack were sitting on either side of him. In the distance, Aerith was hunched over a lump. And then she shifted, and he saw that the lump was Leon, and he remembered what had happened.

He must have made a sound because Tifa was on him in seconds, her hands on both of his cheeks. “Cloud! Hey. Welcome back, space cadet.”

Her earnest smile was strained at the edges. Cloud could just barely see the top of Leon’s head around her face. The top of Leon’s head and the blood. The blood. _The blood._

“I need another mega potion!” Aerith called.

“Coming!” Tifa called back.

She disappeared, and again Cloud caught a peek of Leon’s pale, unmoving body before Zack’s face appeared instead. Instead of the gentle touch that Tifa had employed, Zack slapped Cloud on both cheeks hard enough that he heard it before he felt it. The pain was dulled though, distant, like it had to swim through layers of molasses to reach his brain.

“Stay with us, all right, buddy?” Zack said. “We’ve got you, and we’ve got him. Everything’s going to be all right.”

It wasn’t that Cloud didn’t know that. He’d lived twenty years without knowing Leon. He would live if Leon – if he didn’t – _Cloud_ would live. But he clearly hadn’t learned his lesson from being with Sephiroth after all, because he had given Leon enough of himself to be destroyed if Leon was gone, and he nearly choked on that realization. Even if he had known it earlier – and surely some part of him must have known it earlier – he couldn’t have imagined that it would happen like this.

 _Not like this,_ he thought, shaking.

Not when there was nothing he could do.

Aerith’s shoulders slumped. She was whispering urgently to Tifa, who didn’t quiet manage to hide the way her face fell before determination filtered back in. Cloud didn’t need either of them to come over to know what that meant. His gaze lowered to Leon’s prone body again, to the flat chest that never rose with breath, to the eyes that would never again open to see Olympus, the world that Cloud had been so eager to show him.

Something inside Cloud hardened. He was on his feet a second later.

The Coliseum melted into the surrounding city of Thebes, largely empty but for one or two people wandering around in abject confusion. Thebes faded into the bulky double doors that led downward to the Underworld, preceded by several signs warning everyone away. It wasn’t until he reached out to touch the doors that Cloud realized he wasn’t alone.

“Hey, hey!” Zack slipped between him and the doors, his hands clasping Cloud’s shoulders tightly. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Getting Leon back.” Cloud’s voice sounded rough and uneven to his ears, like it had been years since he’d used it. His throat felt like he’d rubbed sandpaper up and down the inside of it and swallowing only made it hurt worse. “He’s down there. I know he is. This is where souls go when people die here.”

“ _The River Styx_ is where souls go when people die here. You can’t get Leon out of the River Styx, Cloud. You’ll _die_.”

Cloud brushed Zack’s hands off. “Then I’ll die. But he’s down there, and I’m getting him whether you come with me or not. Move.”

“Cloud—”

Buster Sword was in his hands, though Cloud had no memory of drawing the sword. “ _Move_.”

He wasn’t so far gone that he couldn’t see the conflict in Zack’s eyes, the way he considered whether it was worth it to try and draw his own weapon and whether Cloud would seriously hurt him to get to the Underworld if he had to. He could see the exact moment that Zack decided to back down, which was good, because in that moment Cloud was unafraid to die pulling two souls out of the Styx instead of one.

“All right,” said a new voice. Cloud sheathed his sword and turned to see that Tifa had followed them, too. She was pulling on her gloves and flexing her fingers. “Cloud, I’m with you. Zack—”

“Why do you get to go?” Zack complained. “Two Buster Swords are better than one!”

“Because you’ve got to go to Traverse Town and get Hercules.”

Cloud paused at the reminder that Hercules existed, the only warrior in all of Olympus that was more powerful than Sephiroth. Of course, Hercules was a _god_ , so Sephiroth could hardly compete, but he was also a legend. Cloud had owned his action figure, once upon a time. Of all the stories about Hercules’ exploits, only one came to mind – the one that had probably made Tifa task Zack with this mission.

The last and only person to successfully rescue a soul from the River Styx had been Hercules.

“I don’t suppose,” Tifa said, clueing Cloud in to the fact that Zack had left at some point. “That I can convince you to wait until Zack and Hercules get back?”

Cloud pushed the doors open and began to descend the stairs into the Underworld.

“Yeah,” Tifa muttered behind him. “I didn’t think so.”

 

 

Sora hadn’t truly known what it meant to be alone until now.

He’d thought he had. He’d survived in Destiny Islands for months while it was falling, with people constantly disappearing around him and whole chunks of the island being sucked up into the ball of darkness in the sky. He’d been alone in the Secret Place as it crawled with golden-eyed heartless, and he faintly remembered being cold and lonely and afraid every second of every day.

But that had been nothing compared to the vast emptiness of the Realm of Darkness.

The keyhole that Roxas had thrown him into had disappeared seconds after Sora went skidding across the gray sands of the beach he’d been walking through for what felt like days. No matter how far he walked, he never tired, and he never seemed to get anywhere. Shadow heartless would appear with a hiss, giving him something to do, but they were the only sentient things present for miles. Sometimes, they also clustered together in a wave that Sora had to run from, because he’d been knocked on his ass enough times to know he was a little out of his league.

He still couldn’t believe it.

“Roxas,” he murmured to himself, since he was the only one around for him to talk to. “Roxas has always been my friend. Why would he do this? Why would he attack me?”

It just didn’t make any sense. And Roxas had said it wasn’t personal, which meant that Sora hadn’t actually done anything to deserve this. The obvious explanation was that Roxas was working for or with Maleficent, but Sora couldn’t bring himself to believe that. There had to be a reason – a damn good one – and there had to be a way out. If Roxas had wanted to kill him, then he could have done that at any time. They both knew that Roxas was ten times stronger than him, especially when he was particularly determined.

_You’re just there to have fun, and I’m there to win._

But win what?

“Leon. Riku. Kairi. Cloud.” Sora wrapped his arms around himself and looked up at the perpetually night sky, empty of stars, of clouds, of hope. “I’m sorry. I should have tried harder. I should have—”

The ground rumbled beneath his feet.

Sora turned around to see another demon tide geysering up from the water, glowing purple and gold and red as it shot toward him. He drew Oblivion and ran toward it, meeting the tide blade first. Shadows flew left and right as he chopped and hacked at the cluster, shadows he would deal with later. The tide surrounded him, surging into a fist that knocked him out into the water. He landed on top of it instead of in it, rolling back onto his feet just in time to keep from being consumed by their darkness.

“FIRE!”

The demon tide lit up with the flames from the spell, shaking more shadows loose from the tower. The remainders leaped up and then dived into a circle of shadows that quickly disappeared. But the tide would be back. It always came back.

In the meantime, Sora had to deal with the heartless that got away.

By the time he’d killed them all, he was exhausted. Sora sat on the beach, legs spread out, head tipped back, and tried to catch his breath. Tears of frustration prickled at the corners of his eyes as he imagined spending days upon months upon years like this. Or what if he never found his way out of here? What if he died here in the Realm of Darkness? What if his family and his friends never found out where he was? What if Riku—

Sora’s chest hurt at the thought of Riku, and he reached into his pocket to fetch the note that he had carefully carried with him from world to world. For as long as he had known Riku, he had been a person of few words, so Sora hadn’t expected an epic poem in the letter he had gotten from Kairi. But he also hadn’t been expecting little more than a single line, though what that single line was had shaken him to his core.

 _I’d marry you today if you asked._ One sentence. Seven words. Countless reasons for why Riku could only write it down and give it to Sora when Sora was too far away to do anything with it. Sora traced the words, carefully written in Riku’s elegant penmanship, and smiled despite his circumstances. _“If you asked.”_ As if Sora _not_ asking was the only thing standing in their way. Stupid Riku. Stupid, beautiful Riku and his stupid, beautiful heart.

Sora slid the note back into his pocket and reached up to wipe the dampness away from his eyes. He had to keep going. Giving in to his despair wouldn’t help anything, and there had to be a way out. Roxas had to have left him a way to save himself. Sora had to believe that.

“Hey!”

He stood, turned, and then froze, his heart skipping a beat. Because standing in the water was Riku, his silver hair hanging free around his face, his aquamarine eyes seeming to glow with joy, his muscular arm waving back and forth to get Sora’s attention.

“Sora,” he smiled. “Hey! There you are!”

“R-Riku?” Sora took a halting step forward, swallowing hard. “Riku, what are you doing here?”

It was so much like his nightmare that he couldn’t decide if he was excited or terrified to see Riku standing there like his own personal knight. The waves lapped at Riku’s shins, but he didn’t even seem to notice as he held a hand out to Sora.

His smile widened. “What are you waiting for, lazy bones? Let’s go home.”

“How did you get here?” Sora’s voice cracked as he took another step and then hesitated. “You can’t be here. This can’t be real.”

As if those were the magic words, Riku faded into a shower of golden lights that soon disappeared. The world blurred, but no matter how much Sora wiped at his eyes, Riku didn’t reappear. He was alone. He was alone, and he was an idiot to ever believe he wasn’t.

Sora dropped to his knees, slamming his fist against the sand again and again and again. A pained scream ripped from his throat. Stupid. Stupid, stupid, _stupid_. He couldn’t give in to this place. He _wouldn’t_. No matter how many illusions of Riku it conjured to taunt him with.

When he finally found the energy to lift his head, it took him another few minutes before he could stand. He reached out blindly for a rock to lean against as he got his shaky legs under him, but nearly tipped over again. Because it wasn’t a rock that was under his hands. Instead, his fingers were wrapped around a keyblade sticking out of the sand next to the rock he’d been reaching for.

“What is this?” he wondered, pulling it out. It was grey, brown, and silver, with teeth that were shaped like the letter E and a square guard made up of two light grey boxes with copper rods. The keychain sticking out of the end was made of several chainlinks like nothing that Sora had ever seen before. “I wonder who left this here…”

The keyblade seemed to sing in his hand. He wondered if it had a master… or if that master was even still alive. If it had ended up here, Sora didn’t want to imagine how.

He dismissed the keyblade, clipping the keychain to the loops of his pants where it sat next to Oblivion’s keychain. On impulse, he glanced back at the water, but the dark waves continued to ebb and flow and Riku wasn’t there. No one was. No one but Sora. The sooner he accepted that, the better.

“Let’s go home,” he whispered, touching the pocket where Riku’s letter rested. “Our friends are waiting.”

 

 

Kairi exhausted herself banging, kicking, and throwing herself against the glass of her cage. No matter what she did, the glass didn't even crack. She shouldn’t have been able to sleep like this, but she did. And the next time she awoke, it was because someone was staring at her. For ten minutes or so, she pretended to still be unconscious in the hopes that she might overhear something useful, but all she heard was a quiet _scritch-scritch-scritch_  that she couldn’t place.

When she finally cracked her eyes open, there was an unfamiliar blond girl watching her, a sketchpad open on her lap. She looked as surprised to see Kairi as Kairi was to see her, her blue eyes huge in her porcelain face, her blond hair like a curtain that fell forward over one shoulder.

“Um,” said Kairi. “Hi?”

“…hi.” The girl’s voice was so quiet that Kairi had to strain to hear her even with mere inches and a pane of glass as the only things between them. “Sorry. I just.” She gestured vaguely at her sketchpad, but Kairi had no idea what she “just.” Of course, the girl was a stranger to her, which meant that Kairi was a stranger to _her_ , which meant there was a chance she could turn this to her advantage. She found a smile and pasted it on.

“What are you drawing?”

The girl held up the sketchpad. Colorful lines like a kindergartener would make nonetheless came together to form a relatively faithful image of Kairi sleeping, her cheek pressed against the glass. In the sketch, she looked peaceful, but she doubted she really had been. There was a crick in her neck from having to sleep standing up. And she was, of course, _trapped in a cage_.

“It’s beautiful,” she said anyway. “Who are you?”

The girl hesitated for such a long time that Kairi had almost given up on her speaking before she whispered, “Naminé.”

“Hi, Naminé. Do you live here?”

She ducked her head and didn’t answer.

“Are you,” Kairi asked, her voice gentle, “A prisoner here, too?”

Naminé tensed, her shoulders creeping up until they practically framed her ears. Again, she didn’t answer, which, in Kairi’s opinion, was answer enough. She made a sympathetic sound, and it wasn’t entirely fake. After all, she had no idea how long Naminé had been trapped here in Hollow Bastion or why, but Kairi had been here for what she hoped was less than a day and she was already ready to set something on fire if it helped her get out.

“I want to help you. But I can’t if you won’t tell me—”

“He talks about you a lot,” Naminé said in her whisper-voice. “Axel, I mean. He said you were like this.”

Kairi, who had frozen at the sound of Axel’s name, tried very hard not to scowl. “Like what?”

Naminé ducked her head again. “Kind.”

Kairi didn’t want to think about Axel, and she definitely didn’t want to think about Axel talking about her so glowingly while he’d been working against her this whole time. She pushed her conflicting feelings away and focused on Naminé. “Why are they keeping you here?”

“I…” Naminé took a deep breath and seemed to steel herself. “I’m a memory witch. I can make people remember things that didn’t happen or forget things that did happen. Or sever their minds completely. Marluxia brought me to Xemnas who brought me to Maleficent who brought me here. I’m…” Her gaze dropped to her lap again. “I make myself useful.”

Kairi had to work to keep her horror off her face. Only once she was sure her voice would remain even did she ask, “You’ve been messing around with our memories?”

Naminé didn’t answer.

When footsteps sounded at the end of the corridor, Kairi wasn’t sure which one of them was more relieved about it. Naminé scrambled up out of what Kairi now saw was a chair, closing her sketchpad and holding it to her chest like a shield. Naminé looked to be around her height and age and was so shy that Kairi found it hard to connect her with the insidious powers that she’d just described. How could a girl who seemed so sweet be capable of _severing people’s minds_? How could a girl who could barely make eye contact with her have knowingly messed with Kairi’s memories?

“—rewarded as a traitor deserves,” a haughty female voice said. It was Larxene, smirking at Axel as they walked. “I wish I could have seen his face when you ended his pathetic existence.”

“You would have loved it,” Axel replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “You never liked Saïx anyway.”

“I don’t like anyone.” Larxene followed this statement by throwing an arm around Naminé’s shoulders and smirking down at her instead. “Except you, of course, little witch. What are you doing up here?”

In stark contrast to the girl who had refused to meet her eyes only seconds earlier, Naminé was glaring – literally glaring – at Larxene as much as she could with their faces so close. Her shoulders were back, her spine straight, and her knuckles white on the edges of her sketchpad, as if she were gripping it tight to keep from using it as a weapon. Larxene seemed to find his amusing if the way her smirk widened was any indication, but the wilting flower version of Naminé was long gone. This version of Naminé had turned her fear into a weapon.

“Drawing,” she said shortly.

Larxene used a single finger to tip Naminé’s chin up. “You wouldn’t happen to be plotting against us, would you? Because you know what will happen if you do.”

“I know.” Naminé pulled her head away, staring at Kairi instead of at Larxene. There was something in her eyes, some message that Kairi was meant to read, but she didn’t know Naminé anywhere near well enough to read it. “Like I said, I was just drawing.”

“Ugh, you’re so _boring_ lately.”

Larxene shoved Naminé back so roughly that she went stumbling into Axel, who just barely kept her from slamming into the ground. He steadied her as Larxene strode off, looking every bit as bored as she claimed, and the way that Naminé yanked her arm out of Axel’s grasp made it clear that they were hardly close. But then when would Axel have spoken to her about Kairi?

Something wasn’t adding up here.

Naminé picked her sketchpad off the floor and then collected her chair, dragging them both away without so much as a goodbye. Kairi waited until she could no longer hear the sound of the chair scraping across the floor.

“You _killed_ Saïx?” she asked.

“He was rewarded as a traitor deserves,” Axel corrected. “Maleficent’s not big on betrayal.”

“You said he used to be your best friend! How could you just—”

“I know you’ve apparently convinced yourself otherwise, but now seems like a good time to remind you that you don’t _actually_ know me, princess.”

Kairi slapped her hand against the glass, wishing she could punch it, wishing she could _break_ it. “Don’t call me that! You don’t get to call me that anymore.”

“Considering it’s the whole reason you’re in that cage, I think you should probably get used to hearing it.” Axel tilted his head, a smirk as slow as smoke winding its way across his face. “ _Princess_.”

“You made me think we were _friends_. You made me—” She forced back the words before they could spill out, because he didn’t deserve them now. He didn’t deserve her feelings. “You didn’t have to do that. You’ve been working for Maleficent this whole time? Fine. We never spoke. We never really had to speak. But you made me think we were friends. You made me trust you and care about you and you didn’t have to do that. You could have kidnapped me without doing that. So why? _Why_?”

Axel chuckled. “Let me know when you figure it out.” He turned on his heel and waved as he sauntered away. “Should be fun.”

Kairi swallowed, realizing that she was close to tears and refusing to give him or anyone the satisfaction of crying here. She wondered if anyone had noticed yet that she was missing. She wondered if anyone would be able to find her here even if they _did_ notice. Hollow Bastion wasn’t on any map that she’d ever seen. She didn’t know if it was even possible for Riku and Sora to fly here. Maybe you had to travel by demon tide.

She sank down to the floor of her cage and wrapped her arms around her legs, pressing her chin to her knees. _Stay awake. Find a way out._ She told herself. _And don’t for a second think about Axel._

 

 

Chip and Dale hadn’t heard from Sora yet, and Riku was mostly relieved.

He still hadn’t figured out how best to break the news of Cloud’s disappearance and Leon’s rescue mission, let alone Elsa leaving Disney Castle momentarily defenseless. He didn’t want to tell Sora at all, honestly, because he didn’t want to put Sora in the position of having to decide which emergency fire was the most in need of personally putting out.

But Riku couldn’t keep secrets from Sora either, so he told himself that it was for the best that Sora was still held up in the Bayou.

“I wish there was an easier way to reach him,” Chip complained as he tried and failed to call Sora again. The communicator screen showed the inside of an empty gummi ship, unchanged from when Sora had landed it days ago and disappeared with a promise to check in soon. “He’s gonna be really upset when he finds out what’s been going on.”

“The best thing he can do is what he’s doing,” Riku pointed out. “Leon can bring Cloud back, but right now Sora’s the only one who can—”

“It’s okay to say you miss him, Your Highness,” said Dale. “We all do.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t. I just…” Riku didn’t feel like explaining that he thought that Sora needed to have control over this one thing right now. And he especially didn’t want to explain what he’d written in that letter he’d given to Kairi to give to Sora, which Sora must have read by now whether he’d mentioned it or not. The unsaid words stacked up at the back of his throat and he sighed to clear it. “You two seem like you’re all good here, so I’m going to head out.”

Both chipmunks saluted him as he left, but Riku barely noticed. Everywhere he looked, he saw openings. With Leon gone, having taken Tifa, Aerith, and Zack with him, Yuffie was short-staffed on the Black Coats. They were patching the holes left by the Royal Guards, who were spread thin protecting the Castle and the Town. Leon had left the remaining Organization members with mysterious tasks that kept them out of the castle, but Roxas was now in Arendelle and Saïx was still missing, so they were short-staffed there, too. If Maleficent chose to attack now, Riku wasn’t confident in their chances.

But his parents had assured him that uncertainty was a key part of being a leader.

“Sometimes good actions have bad consequences. Sometimes bad actions are necessary to achieve good results. And sometimes there are no good or bad actions. You can never be one hundred percent certain of anything,” Minnie had said as the three of them poured over maps and made plans and discussed strategies. “Except that _something_ will inevitably go wrong. The mark of a good leader is how you respond when it does.”

“Sometimes you care so much for somebody that other feelings disappear,” Mickey had continued. “And then there’s no room for fear or doubt. That’s when you’ll find the strength to protect what matters.”

His parents had held hands over the table then, their eyes twinkling at each other, and even now Riku let their words wrap around him like a security blanket that helped him feel confident enough to put one foot in front of the other. If Maleficent attacked, he was ready. He _would_ be ready. No fear. No doubt.

Umiko caught up to him halfway to his room, the bags beneath her eyes sagging deeper than usual. “Your Highness. Have you seen Kairi today?”

“Doesn’t she have training?”

“Master Yen Sid said she didn’t show up for training.” Though her voice was steady, it was clear that Umiko was clinging to her calm with white-knuckled hands. “Axel did, but she didn’t.”

Riku’s eyebrows furrowed as he thought back to the last time he’d seen Kairi. She’d come back from the Tower, at which point she had been caught up on everything that had gone wrong in such a short amount of time. Then she’d disappeared to her room to take a nap until her body “stopped running on two timelines” and that had been it.

“When’s the last time that Axel saw her?”

“He said she was supposed to meet him in Disney Town for dinner, but she never showed. I’m,” Umiko’s voice cracked. “I’m worried. I’ve been giving her space because… well, you know. But she’s never gone so long without letting me know where she is and that she’s okay before. Even if she was upset with me. She’s not the type to—Kairi never just disappears.”

“I know, I know.” Riku placed his hands on her shoulder and met her gaze, keeping his steady even as his stomach began to sink. “We’ll find her. We’ll get her back, wherever she is.”

Tears welled in Umiko’s eyes. “If Maleficent has—”

“We’ll find Kairi,” Riku insisted. “And if Maleficent has touched a single hair on Kairi’s head, I’ll kill her myself.”

Umiko looked like she was going to say something, but then a distant blast put them both on their guard. Riku called Soul Eater to his hand and put out his free arm to keep Umiko safely behind him. He didn’t dare tell her to head to safety. He knew better than to try to tell the woman who had raised Kairi to be as stubborn as she was what she could or could not handle.

The Courtyard was in pandemonium. Where there once had been grass, there was now a teeming ocean of darkness. Shadows crawled over one another to approach the castle. The red and gold heartless with the antennae floated above them. Armored heartless, their eyes glowing out of helmets with jagged tips, stalked toward the castle.

And standing before them all, his hands on his hips and a smirk on his face, was Pete, holding what appeared to be a bomb with legs in his hand.

“Where’s the boat boy king and his little wifey?” Pete asked. “I’ve got a bone to pick with the two of ‘em.”

He tossed the bomb, and Riku threw up an Aeroga spell. The bomb rebounded off the wind barrier, getting caught in one of the hedge sculptures and then exploding in a cloud of leaves and twigs.

“Pete,” he shouted once the wind had faded. “If you have a problem with my parents, you have a problem with me. And where’s Kairi?”

“Who?” Pete said in a mocking tone that made it clear that he knew exactly what Riku was talking about. “Listen, prince, I ain’t got a problem with you. Not yet. But we’re taking this here castle whether you like it or not.”

“Where’s Kairi?” Riku repeated, stepping into the courtyard. The heartless twitched forward, and, though he couldn’t understand them, Riku got the distinct feeling that they were eager. “Don’t make me beat it out of you.”

Pete laughed, but there was an edge of fear to it that made Riku take another step forward. His laughter abruptly choked off. “All righty, I’m sick of this. Get him.”

Riku waited for the heartless to attack, but they didn’t move. Instead, he heard a muffled sound from behind him. He whirled around to find Umiko with one broad hand covering her mouth and a gigantic arm locked around her struggling body. Lexaeus, one of Leon’s spies, stared at Riku from over her shoulder. Beside him were Zexion and Vexen.

“What…” he began, before he realized the truth. And there was no time to let shock stay his hand. He turned Soul Eater on the three of them. “ _Let her go_.”

“Always the charmer, aren’t you?” Vexen sneered. “You may as well stop your posturing. Xaldin and Luxord have your parents. If you don’t want to lose a second set of them, put your keyblade away and come with us.”

Riku scowled. “If you were going to kill them, you would have done it already.”

“Smart boy.” Zexion shook his bangs out of his eyes, which must have been some sort of signal, because the next thing he knew Umiko was choking as Lexaeus’ grip on her tightened. “But she’s expendable.”

“Stop!” Riku dismissed his keyblade immediately. “Stop it. Don’t hurt her. I’ll go with you.”

Vexen smirked. “As if you had any other choice.”

Another explosion sounded from outside, so loud and sudden it caught them all off-guard. Riku recovered the fastest, whipping Soul Eater out of thin air and throwing a Blizzaga spell straight at Lexaeus’ face. Umiko ran with it, jamming her elbow into his throat and sliding down to the ground when he dropped her with a roar. She cast a Stopra that froze all three of them in place and then ran to Riku’s side. Her throat and her cheeks were bright red.

“Are you—?”

“Your Highness, look!”

The Courtyard was in pandemonium for an entirely different reason now. Pete had his back to them, and the heartless were crawling this way and that. Because, coming up from the winding road to Disney Town with Captain Goofy at their head, was what felt like every citizen of this world, those who were born and those who had adopted it as their home. Everyone was carrying pipes and lamps and branches and frying pans and anything else they could get their hands on to use as a weapon. It was an army to rival Pete’s and from the looks on all of their faces they were pissed off at the creatures trying to take over their home.

Riku’s heart felt so full he almost couldn’t speak for a moment. He wanted to talk to them, to go to them, to lead them, but he couldn’t yet. Because the three Organization members suspended in the entrance to the castle were just the tip of the iceberg. There were ten more in the group, and he was hardly naïve enough to believe that there were only three bad apples on the tree.

“I’ve got to find my parents,” he told Umiko, offering her a potion. “Will you be all right?”

“This old lady’s got a few tricks up her sleeve yet,” she said, waving his potion away and revealing one of her own. “Keep that. You might need it. I’m going to help the people. Riku?” She caught his arm as he moved past her, her eyes large and serious. “Find our girl.”

“I will,” he promised.

 

 

Cloud had never been to the Underworld before, though not for lack of trying.

After his mother had died, he’d tried to break into Hades’ domain just to see her one more time and say a proper goodbye. But he hadn’t been able to get through the doors, because the Underworld didn’t open for just anyone. It wasn't good to become obsessed with what you’d lost and forget about what you had. Hades was a lot of terrible things, but he held to that ideal and kept the doors closed most of the time.

But Olympus had only just been restored, and the doors were not yet locked. Cloud and Tifa weren’t stopped on their way down. It was eerily silent in there. A faint mist floated above the ground and Cloud felt his magic being sapped away. Large rocks periodically fell from the unstable ceiling, smashing into pebbles when they hit the ground. Glowing green water belched smoke into the air, giving the entire place a desolate feel.

“There’s still time to turn back,” Tifa reminded him, shifting uncomfortably. “And wait for Hercules.”

“The longer we wait, the more lost Leon will get.” The words fell from Cloud’s lips robotically, but he knew that that had nothing to do with it. He couldn’t stand the idea of Leon’s soul floating around in that gloomy river, with all the lost souls who had died before the world had. Not when Leon was dead because of him. “Stay close.”

“Always.”

Cloud didn’t know his way around the Underworld, but he got lucky for the first time all day. Tucked at the end of the path to the right, near the corner of the door, was a bright red treasure chest. He didn’t have a keyblade, but Tifa handed him a hairpin that he used to work the lock open. Inside was a map. It didn’t list the River Styx on it, but there was an area labeled Valley of the Dead, which seemed like a good enough place to start.

For the first time, he let himself wonder what Sephiroth was doing.

Whatever Pete had done to him, it was too powerful for Sephiroth to fight. And it seemed to be encouraging all of his worst instincts. Cloud didn’t doubt that there _was_ a part of Sephiroth that had always wanted to kill Leon, but Sephiroth would never have done such a thing if he were in his right mind. Whether he’d done it to hurt Cloud or he’d done it to get Leon out of the way, the darkness that had overtaken him was the one in the driver’s seat now. Sephiroth’s negative feelings were just the steering wheel.

Even so, Cloud wanted to blame him. He wanted to blame Sephiroth for what he had done, because anger gave him more direction than the bleak grief that clung to his heart. In one move, he had lost two of the most important people in his life, and he didn’t know how to come back from that. He felt empty. Everything felt empty. Tifa was so close behind him that he should have been able to feel her body heat, but no part of him felt warm.

By the time they made it to the Valley of the Dead, Cloud’s hands were twitching with restlessness. He hadn’t needed to draw his sword even once, though he had assumed that the Underworld would be crawling with heartless even after the world had been restored. This all seemed too easy, nothing like the epic adventure that Hercules had supposedly taken down here.

Green water illuminated the cave on either side of the ledge they crossed. In the distance, a round stone door barred what was apparently Hades’ Chamber. Tifa folded her arms, glancing over the edge of the ledge. “I can hear them, I think. All these people. Crying.”

Cloud joined her, watching the souls float by in the river below. No matter how long he looked, he couldn’t find Leon among them. He wasn’t sure whether to be happy about that or not. He wasn’t sure whether that meant Leon was alive or not.

“We should keep going,” he said, turning away. “We’re almost there.”

“The water’s all around us,” Tifa pointed out. “How are we supposed to find Leon with this much ground to cover?”

“I know how.”

He ignored her follow-up questions and pushed open the door to Hades’ Chamber. Somehow, he was utterly unsurprised to see the King of the Underworld in the room, sitting on a table and squeezing a Hercules doll so hard that its biceps ballooned. The doll was missing its head, which looked, from the soot stain, like it had been burned straight off.

“Well, well, well,” Hades grinned. “What’ve we got here?”

Cloud clenched his hands into fists to keep them from shaking. “I’m here for the soul of Squall Leonhart. He was killed before his time, and he shouldn’t be here.”

“Even if he _is_ here, and that’s a biiiiiig 'if’,” Hades dropped the doll and stepped on it as he approached Cloud. “What makes you think I’m going to let you leave with him? All souls in Olympus belong to me once they leave the body, spiky. You oughta know that.”

“I do know that. That’s why I’m here.”

“And why’s she here? Protection?” He waggled his eyebrows at Tifa. “Hey, how ya doin’? Hades, god of the dead.”

“You must be a real hit at parties,” Tifa deadpanned.

Cloud took a step forward. “Hades. _Please_. Please, I need him back. Just – please.”

“No one likes a whiner.” Hades rubbed his chin, but his pensive deliberation was fake. Cloud could tell that Hades was interested. What he couldn’t figure out was why Hades was drawing out the moment, when Leon was still bleeding out upstairs and his soul could have been floating at the bottom of the Styx by now. “I’m a nice guy, so I can definitely grant your request. But I’m gonna need a little something back, you know? The Underworld isn’t a charity, you get me?”

“Anything,” Cloud breathed. “I’ll do anything.”

“That’s what I like to hear!” His hair flared bright as he turned around and plopped back down on the edge of his table. “Here’s the thing. Fair is fair, right? You want me to restore a life, so I’m going to need a life to replace it. Ah, ah, ah.” Hades held up his hands as Tifa began to protest. “I’m not saying you need to kill anybody. But if I give your boyfriend back his life, I’m going to need yours.” He waved those same hands and a contract appeared between them in a puff of blue smoke. “For the rest of your life, I own you. You do what I say when I say, no questions asked. And if you don’t, bam.” He snapped his fingers. “Your lover boy will drop dead on the spot. Do we have a deal?”

“Cloud! Don’t do this. Please.” Tifa grabbed his arm, pulling him away from Hades and from the contract. “Let’s just wait for Hercules. He can—”

“Wonderboy can’t do a thing,” said Hades, plucking a feathered pen out of thin air, too. “No one gets out of the Styx unless I let them out. God or no god, this realm is _mine_ , and there’s nothing Hercules can do. This is my final offer. You can either take it now or you can leave it and take your chances. But the clock’s ticking, and you’ll never get a deal this good.” He held out the pen and the contract. “So, what’s it gonna be?”

Tifa shook her head. “We’ll find another way.”

“What other way?” Cloud whispered. “Tifa, I _can’t_ —”

“Leon wouldn’t want this.”

“Leon’s not alive to want anything.”

Hades hummed a cheerful jingle. “Tick, tock, tick, tock.”

Cloud snatched the contract out of the air, ignoring Tifa’s muffled curse. It said exactly what Hades had laid out: in exchange for Leon’s soul, Cloud would work for him for the remainder of his life. When Hades called, Cloud would answer. And, if he didn’t, Leon would die. Cloud hesitated over the bottom line for a long moment and then quickly scribbled his name before he could think too hard about it.

Hades snapped his fingers and the contract disappeared and then the pen and then Cloud and Tifa. One minute, they were standing in Hades’ Chamber and the next they were back at the entrance of the Coliseum, with a quickly dissipating spiral of blue smoke as the only sign they’d ever been in the Underworld.

Cloud took off at a run.

Aerith was still covered in blood, but she was standing, her hands clasped together in front of her pink dress. And standing beside her, eyeing the hole in his bloody white shirt, was Leon. Leon, who looked up as Cloud ran in, and smiled with confused relief. “Hey—”

Cloud practically collapsed into Leon’s arms, hugging him tight and ignoring the tears that trailed down his cheeks. Hours of grief seemed to hit him at once, knocking the breath right out of him. He wheezed, “Thank fuck.”

He could feel Tifa and Aerith’s eyes burning holes into him, but he ignored it to pull Leon closer and squeeze him even tighter. Leon’s toned arms easily held his entire weight as Cloud sagged into him, inhaling the scent of home. In that moment, he didn’t regret a thing.

 

 

Sora’s surroundings had changed. He was still on a beach, but it was a different beach than the one he’d been on before. It was brighter here, if not by much, and though the ground looked like it had been ripped apart by giants, he still recognized these shores. Oblivion appeared in his hand as he looked around his former home – more specifically, the play island that was the last place that he remembered before he and Riku had been reunited.

There were the wooden planks nailed to the tree trunk that held the ramp that wound past the tree house where Sora kept his favorite blanket. There was the seaside shack that hid the stairs that led out to the paopu fruit trees. There was the smaller island where he and Riku would always sit and watch the sunset. Everything was familiar and everything was a wreck.

On instinct, he wound along the path to the Secret Place, keeping his eyes and ears open for more tricks or more heartless. But nothing jumped out at him as he passed the waterfall and shuffled through the bushes that hid the entrance. The inside of the cave was still exactly the same, the walls covered in carved drawings done by his and Riku’s hands, or Tidus’ or Wakka’s or Selphie’s. The drawings lent the cave a lived-in feel that filled Sora with longing.

God, he wanted to go home.

As he emerged into the widest part of the Secret Place, he half-expected to see his bag of supplies resting there, waiting for him to reclaim it as if any of this was real. But instead he saw a figure standing with his back to Sora, unmoving.

Sora’s grip tightened on Oblivion. “Hello?”

It wasn’t Riku. The hair was cornflower yellow, not deep silver. And it clearly wasn’t Kairi either. Hairstyle aside, the figure was a man. Then they turned, and Sora blinked, because, of all people he could have imagined, it was Ven who was smiling at him from the other side of the cave.

“Ven?” he frowned, keeping his weapon out just in case. “Why are you here? You’ve never even been to Destiny Islands.”

“Yes, I have,” he said in a dreamy voice. “You just don’t remember. But I think it’s time that you do.”

Sora didn’t want to get any closer. The best case scenario was that this version of Ven was another trick from the Realm of Darkness, trying to get him to let his guard down so it could exploit his weaknesses and plunge him into the shadows. The worst case scenario was that this was the real Ven, and he was working with his brother Roxas to… to what? Sora still hadn’t figured out what Roxas’ endgame could be, and he didn’t want to lose Ven as a friend, too.

“Remember what?” he asked, keeping an ear out in case this was a prelude to an attack. “Why don’t you just tell me?”

“I met you here…” Ven touched the cave wall fondly. “I was weak. Too weak. Xehanort left me here to die because I was dead weight. And you found me one day while exploring, and we became friends. You’d sneak me food and water and clothes when you could find them. You called me your imaginary friend because I’d hide whenever you tried to bring the other kids by. I didn’t know them or trust them. But I trusted you. That’s why I saved you.”

“Saved me?” Sora wanted to believe him so badly, but there was no good reason for Ven to be here. Either all of this was real and he was in danger, or none of it was. “Saved me from what?”

“From losing yourself in the darkness.” Sora blinked, and suddenly Ven was right in front of him, pressing a hand over his heart. His fingertips glowed where they touched Sora, further proof that Ven wasn’t really there. “I kept your mind together when you became a heartless. I’m reaching out for you now. Can you hear me?”

Sora couldn’t hear anything, couldn’t even see anything but Ven’s face swimming in front of his. He shook his head. “Ven, I don’t understand what—”

“You gave me my second chance, Sora,” he continued, his hand moving forward until it was going through Sora’s chest. Sora expected it to hurt, but it didn’t. Instead, he felt tingly and warm, the way he felt when he saw Riku smile or when he heard Kairi laugh. “So I wanted to give you one, too. I’m not really here. I’m just a manifestation of what your heart remembers. But it’s calling to me, the real me. It’s calling to all the people who care about you and who want you back. You just have to follow your heart to them.”

“My… heart?”

“May your heart be your guiding key.” Ven smiled, then, one of his big, goofy smiles that made him look like a puppy whose owners had just come home. And then he disappeared in a shower of light, his words echoing through the cave.

 _May your heart be your guiding key_.

A sudden light below him drew Sora’s eyes down to where Oblivion was disappearing, changing, until Sora was holding the new keyblade in his hand. He brought it up to his face, reading the name on the keychain. Master’s Defender.

“Oh my god, _Master’s Defender_ ,” Sora breathed, holding the keyblade out as if it would be gone if he wasn’t looking at it. “This is Master Eraqus’ keyblade. I—This—”

But even with the keyblade in his hand, something on the ground was still shining. No, not on the ground. Sora reached into his pocket and pulled out Riku’s letter, which was surrounded by a halo of light that lifted it into the air. Master’s Defender jerked in his grip, moving until Sora was pointing it at the letter now floating over his head. But nothing happened.

_Follow your heart to them._

Sora closed his eyes. He thought about Kairi. Her crinkle-eyed smiles, her wild sense of humor, her fierce bravery, and her loving heart. He thought about Cloud. His sarcastic jokes, his calm steadiness, his unquestionable loyalty, his noble leadership. He thought about Leon. His comforting hugs, his solid advice, his quiet chuckles, and his endless support. And he thought about Riku. His understated sense of humor, his boyish laugh, his love for competitions, and his determination to be everything that everyone needed all the time.

Somewhere in the Realm of Light, his friends were waiting. His family was waiting. The love of his life was waiting. And the worlds were in trouble. Sora couldn’t stay here knowing that Maleficent was out there, threatening the innocent while he was trapped here reliving the past. His friends needed him, and he needed them.

He just had to get home.

Sora opened his eyes to see a beam of light shoot from the end of his keyblade and strike the center of Riku’s letter. _I'd marry you today if you asked._ A glowing keyhole appeared there, right over the word _today_ , growing wider and wider until it became a door large enough for Sora to step through. A door back to the Realm of Light. A door back to Riku.

He dismissed Master’s Defender and smiled. And if the smile wobbled a bit, flickering in and out like a dying lamp as he stepped into the light, at least there was no one around to judge him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next and final chapter will be posted on June 16th.


	10. Checkmate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent the last two weeks debating over this and trying my best, but I couldn't bear to cut this chapter down. So to avoid a chapter twice as long as all the rest (and to avoid the truly dedicated among you not taking breaks between reading), I decided to split it and bump this story up to 11 chapters. Please don't hate me!

The castle rumbled beneath Riku’s feet as he threw himself up the stairs.

Whether it was coming from Pete’s strange bombs or Maleficent’s inevitable arrival, Riku could hear the sounds of destruction in the distance. The ceiling spat pebbles and dust every time the walls shook, and Riku’s fingers tightened on his keyblade as he fought the urge to whirl around and run to his people. He had to find his parents. They had to discuss the plan. Parents. Plan. Parents. Plan. The words echoed with each _tha-thump_ of his heartbeat, but that didn’t make it easier to ignore how it felt like he was turning his back on his kingdom.

He found Terra, Ventus, and Aqua on the second floor outside of the Audience Chamber. Or, rather, he found Terra and Aqua on the second floor outside of the Audience Chamber, Brightcrest and Earthshaker carving a violent path through a wave of mutated heartless. Behind them, huddled in a heap against the wall, was Ventus, his chin tucked against his collarbone as he… slept?

“What happened to him?” Riku asked as he ran up, stabbing Soul Eater through a shadow heartless that leapt at Terra’s back.

“We don’t know!” Terra called back. “He just said ‘Sora’s in trouble’ and then passed out right there.”

Riku’s pulse spiked. “Sora’s in trouble?”

“Not that that’s _not_ a cause for concern, Your Highness,” said Aqua, flinging lightning at one of the large, red and black heartless that only made it shake in irritation. “But we’re in more immediate trouble.”

As if to prove her point, the heartless released a burst of its own lightning from its antennae that slammed Terra back against the wall when he threw himself between it and Aqua. She called him an incredibly unflattering word and then blew the heartless apart with a barrage of Teleport Spikes.

“Sorry,” Terra said with a pained cough, smiling at her from the ground beside Ventus. “Force of habit.”

Aqua’s frown did nothing to take away from the fondness in her eyes. “We protect _each other_. Got it?”

“Yes, Master Aqua.”

Riku got the sudden feeling that he was interrupting a private moment and took a step back. “Well, you two seem to have this well in hand, so I’m just going to…”

More heartless swarmed the pair before he could even finish trailing off, but neither of them asked for his help before they launched themselves forward to meet the attack. Riku shook his head and ducked into the Audience Chamber, but not before taking one last look at the slumbering Ventus. If Sora _was_ in trouble, there was nothing that Riku could do to help him that Ventus – as a prince of heart – couldn’t do better. That thought was enough to get him moving again.

Of course, as soon as he stepped inside the cavernous room, he was forced to stop. But instead of a distraction, he found an obstacle.

Sephiroth stood between him and the throne, Masamune drawn and expression blank.

Riku fell back into a defensive stance, his eyes narrowed. Sephiroth said nothing and did nothing, as still as a statue. Except statues did not radiate darkness like Sephiroth was doing; a cloud of black smoke wafted from his head and chest, misting into the air and disappearing just as quickly. Somehow, some way, Sephiroth had been possessed – and Riku was willing to bet that Pete was behind it.

“Where’s Cloud?” he asked despite the low chance that Sephiroth would answer him in this state.

To his surprise, Masamune twitched as Sephiroth’s grip on the sword slipped. The miasma of darkness seemed to fade, just a little, and Sephiroth’s eyes, for one brief moment, were clear.

Riku’s stomach sank. “Sephiroth, where’s Cloud? And Leon, did you see—”

Mentioning Leon was the wrong thing to do. The smoky darkness thickened again. Sephiroth shot across the room, and Riku barely got Soul Eater up in time to block his head from being sliced off. There wasn’t a flicker of recognition in Sephiroth’s acid green eyes as they broke apart, but there was something. Some sign of life that Riku couldn’t quite read. They’d never been close enough for that.

Sephiroth slashed at him again and Riku dived under the attack so he was no longer trapped against the door. His mind suddenly flashed back to nearly two months ago, when Sephiroth had jokingly asked him to spar, and he was fiercely glad that he had declined. Sephiroth was quick, too quick. Every time Riku dodged or ducked, he was there with another strike. Masamune collided with Soul Eater so hard that Riku felt the reverberation all the way down his arm. He would tire before Sephiroth did, especially a Sephiroth that was amped up on darkness. And if he slowed…

A chunk of the wall went flying as Riku slid beneath another powerful cut.

_Regicide is a crime, sorry to disappoint._

Riku twisted around, slicing Soul Eater down. He felt the keyblade connect with Sephiroth’s back for all of two seconds before Sephiroth was gone again, darting back out of range. Riku was breathing hard, but Sephiroth didn’t even seem to have broken a sweat.

He wished, for a ridiculous moment, that Sora were there. He could fight all he wanted – they both could – but Sora could also talk the sun into dulling its shine. Sora got people in a way that Riku couldn’t, and even if Sora couldn’t talk Sephiroth down then at least having him here would give Riku the strength that his fatigue was slowly sapping away.

His parents were just a few yards away, in the Hall of the Cornerstone, and Sephiroth would kill him out here before he ever reached them.

Across the room, Sephiroth shifted his grip on Masamune and approached slowly, like a lion stalking its prey. Riku watched him, his mind racing through options to end this fight quickly or to at least go out in a way that would make his parents, and his people, proud. But then the sun began to dawn in the room, filling the Audience Chamber with a brightness that somehow wasn’t blinding.

Sephiroth looked up, and Riku took the risk of doing the same. The sunshine had blossomed into a doorway, solid mahogany with golden handles shaped like wings. The doors slid open, spilling even more light into the chamber, spitting out a glowing ball that streaked downward like a star. Riku stared as the ball coalesced into something and then someone and then—

And then Sora landed between them, his knees bent against the impact of the fall.

Riku was well aware that he probably looked like an idiot. His lips had parted in shock, his eyes felt wide enough to get stuck that way, and his eyebrows were getting reacquainted with his hairline. But as Sora straightened and turned to look at him with a truly dazzling smile, Riku actually  _felt_ his heart leap right out of his chest to land at Sora’s feet. Which was fine. It hadn’t belonged to Riku in years anyway.

“I made it!” Sora crowed victoriously, his smile growing brighter still.

The next thing Riku knew, they were kissing.

Distantly, he knew that he shouldn’t have Sora pinned against the wall of the audience chamber for… some reason. But it was as though he’d blinked and suddenly his tongue was diving into Sora’s mouth. If Sora had been surprised at any point, then Riku must have missed it in his blackout, because Sora was kissing him back with a fierceness that Riku easily matched. Sora’s fingers trembled where they dug into Riku’s back, but Sora just pressed himself closer, stroking his tongue against Riku’s, moaning into his mouth.

“Missed you,” one of them murmured, and Riku genuinely wasn’t sure which one of them it was. Sora smelled and tasted and felt like _home_ and something in Riku finally settled for the first time since Sora had left.

Then Sora yanked Riku so close that his lips slid across Sora’s cheek and down to his neck and a sudden _clang_ reminded him where they were.

“Thundaga!” Sora cast in a voice that was simultaneously breathless and throaty. He pressed another kiss to Riku’s temple and then his cheek. “Why are you sparring with Sephiroth in the Audience Chamber?”

Riku swore and turned around. Sephiroth was recovering from the spell, shaking the sparks of lighting off. Riku called Soul Eater back to his hand and tried to stand taller, tried to protect as much of Sora with his body as he could.

“Kairi’s missing and Pete’s attacking the castle,” he explained quickly. “Sephiroth and Cloud went missing, too, and Leon went to look for them with Aerith, Tifa, and Zack. But now Leon and Cloud aren’t back yet and Sephiroth is possessed by darkness.”

“ _What_?”

Sephiroth was on him again. Riku met him blade for blade and forced him backward, the need to keep Sora safe outweighing his exhaustion. He could feel that desire fill him like its own kind of strength and his keyblade seemed to glow in response, summoning a pixilated shield that threw Sephiroth back across the room.

The shield disappeared. Sora came to stand beside him with Oblivion drawn, one hand resting on Riku’s arm.

“That,” Sora said, “was _so_ hot.”

Riku laughed, but the sound got caught in his throat at the way Sora looked at him afterward, with sparkling blue eyes that were warm and fond and… entranced, for lack of a better word. Like he was witnessing something perfect but rare and wanted to savor every second of it. As if _Sora_ wasn’t something perfect and rare and worth savoring.

Riku swallowed and forced himself to look away before he got lost in that gaze. Now _wasn’t the time._

Sephiroth was wincing as he got back to his feet. For the first time, he looked like the fight was costing him effort, and Riku didn’t know if it was a result of Riku’s new shielding ability or because of Sora’s presence, but he was glad to see this sign that Sephiroth was still human under there.

Sora’s expression, when he looked again, was serious. “What’s the plan?”

“We’ve got to get to the Hall of the Cornerstone and meet with my parents. As you can see,” Riku grunted as Sora shoved him back so he could swing Oblivion up to block Sephiroth’s next attempted attack. “I’ve been having a bit of trouble.”

Sephiroth threw himself to the left as Riku slipped under Sora’s guard and sliced at Sephiroth’s right side. Sora easily twirled around him to strike with Oblivion, forcing Sephiroth to dodge again. Swing. Slice. Strike. Swing. Slice. Strike. Riku and Sora moved like they were of one body, navigating around each other without even having to look, their weapons dancing together to put Sephiroth on his guard for the first time since the fight had began.

Sora’s father had given them their first wooden swords. He would take them out on his boat sometimes, even back when they were too young to be left on the play island all day, and Riku had won rock-paper-scissors to be deputy captain of the _Storm Diver_. Sora had sulked during the entire trip except for when Riku had managed to distract him with a game or an observation. The very next day, Sora had appeared with two wooden swords that his father had stayed up all night to hand carve.

“I’m gonna protect us!” he’d said, grinning so wide that his gap tooth had shone. “Call me deputy boat security… captain!”

“How come you have two of them?” Riku had asked, happy because Sora was happy.

Sora had held the second sword out by the handle for Riku to take, his blue eyes warmer than the sun above them. “Duh, ‘cause my dad knew I wouldn’t want to do it without you.”

Several years and thousands of spars later, Riku knew Sora’s fighting style as well as he knew his own. When Sora went left, he spun right. When Sora slashed up, he cut down. And when Sora went flying, he threw up his newfound shield and kept Sephiroth at bay until he could reach Sora’s side.

 _We protect each other, too,_ he thought, hoping that Terra and Aqua were all right.

“We need to end this,” Sora called, blocking another barrage of blows from Sephiroth. “Riku!”

Sora reached a hand back toward him. Though Riku had no idea why he wanted it, he threw Soul Eater, watching as Sora caught it easily. With a keyblade now in each hand, Sora ducked under Masamune and began raining down cuts and slashes, so quickly that Sephiroth visibly struggled to block them all. His arms windmilled through blow after blow, and Riku had to sternly tell himself that now was _not_ the right time to admire the savage beauty of the man that he loved.

Then again, how could his chest not feel warm at the sight? His keyblade was a manifestation of his heart, and Sora wielded it with care and confidence. It was humbling.

“ _Riku!_ ”

He snapped out of his sappy daydreams and darted forward. Sora had both keyblades pointed at Sephiroth, who lay prone on the floor beneath the banners that cascaded from the ceiling. Riku gripped Soul Eater, his fingers resting over Sora’s, and the keyblade began to glow with a white light. It beamed across the room as Sephiroth pushed himself up, striking him in the chest and forcing him against the wall. He roared, the darkness that surrounded him thickening for a moment before whiting out under the assault of the light.

Sephiroth collapsed forward and didn’t move again.

“Is he…?” Sora asked as Riku took Soul Eater back and carefully approached Sephiroth’s body to check for a pulse.

He straightened. “He’s alive. We should go before he wakes up.”

Sora’s hand slid into his a moment later. “I really missed you.”

“Sap,” Riku said, giving his hand a squeeze that he hoped communicated how badly he wished they had time to pick up where they had left off earlier. “I really missed you, too.”

 

 

The best and worst part of Kairi’s cell was the fact that it was in a corridor and not in a room.

That was the best part because it meant that she was in a high traffic area, where she caught snippets of conversations and nuggets of information she could file away for later. That was the worst part because it meant that she was a journey and not a destination; snippets and nuggets were all she could get.

“This is taking far too long,” Maleficent was saying from somewhere to Kairi’s left. There was another room there, she'd figured out, but the door must have been left ajar because she was hearing better than usual. “I should have known that fool was incapable of such a simple task.”

“It has been less than an hour,” said a deep voice like syrup dripping over pancakes. Xemnas. “Your impatience will be your undoing.”

“Do _not_ presume to tell me how to conduct my affairs.”

“I’m merely suggesting that your underlings will work harder if your expectations for them are _realistic_.”

“I could take Disney Castle in an hour,” said a third voice. Xigbar, she thought. “Hell, I could probably take it in a minute. You should’ve let _me_ go.”

Xemnas sounded vaguely amused. “You are needed here. You know what’s at stake.”

“Why do we even need to wait?” Maleficent continued as if the men hadn’t spoken. “I have collected all of the Princesses. I could open the door right now.”

“And have the king use the Cornerstone to close it again, permanently this time?” Xemnas scoffed. “No. We wait.”

Kairi didn’t realize that she had the entire side of her face pressed against the glass until someone said, “Oh, hey!” and she jolted backward. Something slammed shut to her left; the new voice must have alerted Maleficent and her minions to the fact that the door was open. _Fuck_.

Moments later, Demyx appeared, loose tendrils of his mullet falling against his forehead as he bent over Naminé’s abandoned chair. Kairi often woke to find the blonde drawing outside of her cell, or having just finished with nothing but an empty chair and an abandoned sketch to show she was ever there. If Demyx was surprised to see the chair or the sketch, he didn’t show it. “This is awesome!”

She watched as he picked up Naminé’s latest picture, turning it from one side to the other with genuine delight on his face. It made him look younger and more approachable. Since he didn’t seem to have noticed that she was awake yet, she quickly went over everything she knew about Demyx. She got the impression that he was kind of an idiot. Most stories she heard about him were about him having fun, not doing effective work. Maybe the others didn’t respect him as much.

Maybe she could use that.

“She’s really talented,” Kairi offered, calling his attention to her. “Naminé, I mean.”

“Yeah, she is! One time, she drew me this—wait.” He blinked as if realizing for the first time that she shouldn’t have been looking at him. “What are you doing awake?”

Kairi nodded at the sketch. “She left that for me. To make me feel… less alone in here.”

She was watching his face carefully, so she caught the flash of something on his face. Some emotion. She thought maybe it was guilt, and she could definitely use _that_. She wrapped her arms around herself and combed through her most painful memories.

There had been a moment, when she was younger, when she had seen a group of kids kicking a ball back and forth in the square. The game had been broken up when each of the children had been picked up by a mother or a father or two of each or both of one. She’d asked her grandmother for the first time where her own parents were. She’d _understood_ for the first time that those children had something that she lacked, and her heart squeezed even now at the reminder. She couldn’t grieve people that she didn’t remember, but she could grieve the little girl who hadn’t known until that day that some differences could make you feel bad.

She swallowed, her eyes welling with tears as she met Demyx’s gaze again. She made sure he saw it as she rubbed her hands up and down her arms.

“S-Sorry,” she managed. “I’m just kind of cold in here, I guess.”

Demyx frowned, glancing uncertainly to the left.

Kairi gave him an innocent smile. “Can I see the picture?”

The frown deepened, but he obediently came closer to the glass with the sketchpad held up. She was pretty sure the middle figure was meant to be her, from the red hair and the pink dress, but Naminé had drawn her facing away. Both of her hands were extended outward, wrapped in the hands of two other figures. One, she guessed from the hair, was Sora. The other, she guessed from the height, was Riku. Naminé hadn’t indicated what they were looking at, but just looking at the picture made a frisson of pain run through Kairi’s body.

She used her lifetime of experience acting like she was fine when she wasn’t in order to smile, wide and bright, as her tears brimmed and cascaded down her cheeks. She then reached up hastily to wipe them away, affecting embarrassment that he had to see that.

“It’s,” she sniffed, “It’s lovely. Tell her I said thank you.”

She took the risk of turning her back on him, rubbing her arms again. There was nowhere in the cell to walk to, but she faked a series of shivers and pressed her forehead against the back wall as if she might try and sleep like this. Behind her, she could hear Demyx groan and then start muttering to himself, but not loud enough for her to make out any words. Sweat rolled down the back of her neck as she increased the force of her shivers. Surely, Maleficent, Xemnas, and Xigbar would come out of that room eventually. Or, worse, another member of the Organization would come by and scare Demyx away from her cage.

 _Take the bait,_ she thought. _Help me. You think I’m weak and defenseless and you_ want _to help me._

As if he heard her, Demyx stammered, “Hey. Hey, you. Um, here. I can just get another one of these anyway.”

Kairi turned slowly, blinking as if confused, to see him shrugging out of his black trench coat. Beneath, he was wearing a black t-shirt with a white music note under a black leather vest and acid washed jeans with several silver chains attached to the pocket.

She eyed him suspiciously – she didn’t know if or what Axel had told him about her, but she didn’t want to raise _his_ suspicions by acting completely unlike herself – and then scowled. “Very funny.”

“No, I—” He scratched the back of his head, looking incredibly awkward. “Orders are orders, but I’m not a monster. If you promise to stay in there, I’ll give you this jacket. Are you hungry? I can grab you something to eat, too.”

Kairi realized with a start that she hadn’t been hungry once the entire time she’d been there. Hopefully, that was proof that it hadn’t been as long as it felt. She shook her head slowly, wondering if anyone could really be this stupidly well-meaning when working for Maleficent.

Demyx told her to stand with her back pressed to the wall and waited until she did so to press something to the right of the glass. It shimmered and disappeared between one breath and the next. Her lips parted in surprise, but she forced herself to just… keep… still…

He handed her the jacket. Kairi gripped it with her left hand and then used it to yank him forward so she could slug him in the face with her right.

Demyx lurched backward, swearing, as Kairi leaped out of the glass cage and punched him again. When he staggered forward, she shoved him into the cell. Before he could whirl around and grab her, she found and slammed her fist against the crown-shaped button next to the opening and the glass shimmered back into view.

Her heart pounding in her chest, she looked to her right – or what had been to her left, while she was in the cage. Two huge doors were at that end of the hallway, still reassuringly closed. But Demyx was banging on the glass, and she could hear him just as well from out here as she could from in there. Someone would come soon.

“Wait!” he cried as she began to run. “Wait, please, don’t leave me here! They’ll kill me. If they come back and find you gone and me in here, they’ll _kill_ me. _Please_!”

She hated herself for stopping. How many people had died or would die at Disney Castle because of the “orders” he was following? How many people had died or would die in all the other worlds? He was clearly an idiot, but it was downright inconceivable for him to ask her for the mercy he hadn’t shown everyone else.

Even if he had showed it to her. Even if she’d used it to manipulate him.

 _Dammit,_ she thought before she turned around.

Demyx was openly weeping inside the cell, and, unlike her, his crying seemed genuine. A fat bubble of snot was growing from his left nostril. His breathing kept hitching painfully. There was genuine fear in his eyes. He was _this_ afraid of Maleficent and the Organization, and yet he had still taken a risk to give her his coat and offered to get her food.

“Fine,” she whispered. “Stop crying! And stop banging on the glass. Just… give me a second.”

Demyx gave her a watery smile. Kairi cursed herself again and again as she raced around the corridor, hitting crown after crown. The cages holding the other Princesses shimmered open, belching green mist into the air that made Kairi woozy. But the Princesses stirred immediately, blinking until they were alert enough to take stock of their surroundings and step down to join her on the carpet.

“What the fuck,” said Merida. “Is going on?”

“I’ll tell you everything I know on the way out, Your Highness,” Kairi said, facing her still unopened cell and the man hunched over inside of it. “But first, we’ve got to take a hostage.”

 

 

Leon hadn’t felt this bad even when he’d been dying. Not that he remembered much about dying.

It had taken Cloud the entire walk from the arena to the gummi ship to tell Leon everything that had happened since they’d last seen each other, and the more he spoke, the more Leon’s stomach sank. Cloud also wouldn’t stop touching him, particularly the place where Sephiroth’s sword had broken through. Leon was not one to complain about Cloud touching him under any normal circumstance, but right now it made his skin crawl with guilt.

He curled his hand around Cloud’s and held tight. “Listen, I need to tell you something.”

Cloud glanced toward the front of the gummi. Tifa and Aerith were strapped in next to one another, navigating asteroids in the Oceans Between. Zack was practically vibrating next to Hercules, who was laughing at his enthusiasm and telling him story after story about his legendary exploits. Leon waited until Cloud was confident that they were as alone as they were going to get and met his eyes again.

“Okay…” Cloud said slowly.

There was no gentle way of saying it, so Leon didn’t try. “That day we were supposed to find a wedding planner, when I was called for a meeting, it was Sephiroth I was meeting with. He said Pete had gotten captured to talk to him about an offer from Maleficent, to join her in exchange for control over the power of darkness.”

Cloud’s eyes widened and then narrowed, but he didn’t speak. 

“I thought it was too dangerous, obviously. We went back and forth on what to do for hours. He told me again and again that he could handle this. That he wanted to do this. That he wanted to prove…” He faltered for only a moment before continuing, “He wanted to prove that he was someone I could trust, too.”

Leon had spent over a decade learning Cloud inside and out, but even he almost couldn’t follow the complicated series of emotions that cartwheeled across Cloud’s face. His grip tightened in Leon’s, but he still didn’t say anything.

Leon licked his dry lips. “I didn’t… I didn’t think it would turn into this. Sephiroth seemed sure, though, and I wanted to be able to trust him, too.” The silence persisted for another full minute. Leon placed his other hand on top of their joined ones and waited him out.

“It’s not your fault,” Cloud said at last. “Thanks for telling me.”

He turned to look out the front windshield, signaling the end of the conversation, but his hands remained wrapped in Leon’s. Their rings clinked against each other as Leon shifted his hold so that their fingers were laced together instead. He looked down at them, sparkling silver under the lights, and tried not to think about what Cloud having sold his soul to Hades would mean for their wedding.

If Leon would drop dead the second that Cloud didn’t answer Hades’ call, then how could they have a proper future?

His chest ached, and he knew it wasn’t from the ghost of his fatal injury. He should have told Sephiroth no. He should have fought harder to come up with a better plan. He should have called for Cloud to be brought to the meeting, since Sephiroth answered to Cloud and not to Leon, but Sora had needed to get out of the palace that day and…

Excuses. All he had were excuses. Excuses and a life his fiancé had paid the ultimate price for.

“Oh, no,” said Aerith.

Tifa and Zack were on their feet beside her, but, from here, all Leon could see was the tense line of their shoulders. He and Cloud exchanged glances and then got up, too. As soon as Leon got to the front of the gummi ship, he wished he’d stayed in his chair.

Because Disney Castle was seething with heartless.

As they headed toward the Gummi Hangar, they flew over droves of heartless, in clusters, in waves, in packs, covering the ground like ants steaming from an anthill. Every so often, one would explode in a burst of shadow, but there seemed to be ten times as many heartless as there could possibly be in Disney Castle.

The Cornerstone must have died faster than Leon had.

“What do we do?” Aerith asked, turning to look at Cloud. “Is it even safe to enter the Hangar? What if—?”

“Then we’ll fight our way out,” Cloud said. His voice, his tone, his _stance_ had shifted into captain mode. “Aerith, land the gummi. Tifa and Hercules, take point. Zack, you’re in the rear with me.”

Cloud didn’t give him any orders, but then Leon didn’t report to him. He told himself that was the only reason. “I’ll run center.”

Cloud just nodded once.

They all held themselves tense as the gummi ship landed with no one to receive them. Chip, Dale, and Cid were nowhere to be seen in the darkened room, which was somehow empty of heartless. Their luck only held until they ascended the stairs into the Courtyard, where heartless and Disney Castle citizens spilled onto every inch.

“Wow,” said Hercules as a cow with a wrench slapped a heartless away like it was a tennis ball. “Your people are very brave. They’re true heroes.”

Tifa adjusted her gloves and then flexed her fingers. “Can’t let them hog all the glory.”

They grinned at one another and then dived into the fray. Aerith raced behind them, throwing Cure spells this way and that.

“We should find the king,” Leon said to the remaining two. “He might need the backup.”

“We’re right behind you,” Zack replied.

Leon paused to gaze out at the Courtyard one last time, at the utter chaos that all of their efforts had been unable to prevent. And all he could think even as he turned away was, _God, I’m glad Sora isn’t here._

 

 

Sora was so glad to be here that he almost couldn’t focus on the emergency.

Riku, the _real_ Riku, was holding his hand as they dashed across the Audience Chamber floor. Sunshine lit the room, banishing any trace of gloomy darkness that the heartless may have left behind. The air was crisp and fresh, freeing after however long he had been trapped wandering the same dusky beach and talking to ghosts. He wanted to put his hands and body and tongue all over Riku to reassure himself that this was real, but he just squeezed his hand instead.

Riku squeezed back again, and Sora’s heart fluttered.

It stopped as soon as they reached the Hall of the Cornerstone.

King Mickey was holding off Xaldin and Luxord with Star Seeker – but barely. Behind him, an exhausted Queen Minnie was casting Pearl in an obvious attempt to heal the Cornerstone. It was dark; not even faded, but dark. Dead.

Disney Castle was well and truly unprotected.

Sora gaped at Xaldin and Luxord. Luxord had taught him how to play several card games, laughing when Sora tried and failed to beat him. Xaldin was prickly on the best of days, but Sora had made him crack a smile once – _once_ – and held it as one of his crowning achievements. Now they were attacking the king with lances and razor-sharp cards as if they had no hearts at all.

Riku looked at him. Sora nodded. They summoned their keyblades.

Riku made a beeline for his father, attacking Xaldin and Luxord from behind. Sora ran past them to the queen.

“How can I help?” he asked, his back to her and Oblivion poised to block any attacks that Riku and the king couldn’t.

“Sora!” Minnie breathed. “Oh, I’m so happy to see you. I had a bad feeling—”

“I’m okay,” he said, pushing the memories that crept up at her words as far down as he could. “How can I help? Heartless are swarming the Castle and Kairi is missing and—”

“Kairi’s missing?” He glanced over his shoulder to see the horrified expression on Minnie’s face. “What do you mean Kairi is missing?”

Sora shook his head, because Riku hadn’t exactly had the time to give him any details. But with everything going wrong at once, that Kairi’s disappearance seemed to upset Minnie the most made fondness rush through him. No wonder Riku had come out as well as he had with Mickey and Minnie as his parents.

Minnie rubbed her gloved hands on her gown. “This isn’t working. We need to try something else. Have you seen Ventus?”

“I haven’t seen anyone but Riku.”

“Can you get me to him?”

“Riku?”

Minnie’s smile was exasperated but fond. “ _Ventus_.”

“Oh!” Sora laughed sheepishly. “Yeah, of course, Your Majesty. Riku!” He smiled as Riku knocked Xaldin’s lances out of the air with ease before turning to him. “Where’s Ventus? Have you seen him?”

Riku gave him a puzzled look, but told him and cleared a path for him as Sora and the queen charged back the way they’d come. He shouldn’t have been as surprised as he was by how hard it was to walk away from Riku right now, but he was. The Realm of Darkness still seemed to be clinging to him with persistent fingers, but when he’d been next to Riku, touching him and fighting with him, he’d felt okay. Safe.

He didn’t feel safe now.

Sora and Minnie burst through the doors of the Audience Chamber and into the hallway. He expected it to be bursting with heartless, but it wasn’t. In fact, it seemed to be entirely empty. He looked from left to right, but he had no idea where Aqua, Terra, and Ventus would have gone.

He was so busy looking that he almost missed the movement from behind him.

“Sora!” Minnie cried. “Look out—”

He whirled just in time to avoid getting cut in half by Masamune. Oblivion shook under the strain of keeping the long sword at bay, but Sora got his knees under himself and pushed. 

“Sephiroth! _Stop!_ ”

Sora turned his head just enough to see Cloud, Leon, and Zack at the top of the stairs that led down to the Outer Courtyard. The relief that flooded him at the sight of his brother would have been his undoing if Sephiroth’s grip hadn’t also slacked on his weapon. Sora jumped backward, not quite out of range, but enough that it would be easier to defend himself if Sephiroth did attack again. Minnie hurried to his side, and Sora carefully shifted in front of her as Sephiroth turned to face the new arrivals.

“Sora,” Leon said, his eyes wide, his gunblade drawn. “What are you doing here? I didn’t see your ship in the Hangar.”

If he hadn’t wanted to explain what had happened to _Riku_ , he definitely didn’t want to explain it to Leon. He lightly scratched his cheek instead. “What are you doing here? Riku told me you and Cloud were…”

He fell silent as Cloud and Sephiroth approached each other between them. Leon seemed distracted anyway, an expression on his face that seemed like guilt mixed with something else. Sora eyed Cloud and Sephiroth, wondering if he would be needed to get involved in the fight. But though Cloud was holding his sword, he looked like he didn’t want to use it.

“Sephiroth, Leon told me everything. You need to stop now, okay? The darkness, it’s – it’s controlling you, not the other way around. And I want to help you, but you have to let me. It’s not too late.” Cloud tilted his head in Leon’s direction. “He’s all right now. But if you keep doing this, you’ll be too far gone and I’ll have to—”

“C-Cloud…”

With that single whispered word, the darkness around Sephiroth fluttered and then began to solidify into a strange shape. Sora couldn’t hold in a gasp as a blue and black wing formed over Sephiroth’s left shoulder, feathers stretching outward far enough to touch the windows. Seconds later, Sephiroth threw himself toward those same windows and took flight, disappearing into the air with Masamune back in its sheath.

“SEPHIROTH!”

Cloud ran to the window, and Leon and Zack ran after him. Zack grabbed him before he could try to climb out too, or fly on wings he didn’t have.

“We’ll go after him,” Leon said, his hand on Cloud’s other shoulder. “Zack, can you go with Sora and the queen?”

“You got it, chief.”

Leon and Cloud ran back the way they’d come, and Sora took half a step after them. Whatever his brother and soon to be brother-in-law were involved in, it felt like they needed his help or his support. But Minnie’s hand tugging on the bottom of his trousers reminded him that they weren’t the only ones. The queen needed him. Disney Castle needed him. Kairi needed him. And, somewhere beyond, the Princesses probably still needed him. And here he was, trembling over a realm he was no longer trapped in and too scattered to be of much help to anyone.

“Let’s try the library,” he said more decisively than he felt. “And fast.”

 

 

Kairi made it all the way to the library before she ran into someone. Naminé didn’t seem surprised to see her or the Princesses as they flooded into the room, Demyx tied up behind them. He had, in fact, insisted on being tied up, just in case they were seen while trying to escape.

“That way, I can say you overpowered me!” he’d said, more cheerfully than a guy being taken hostage should have been.

“Overpowered you… from inside our cages?” Rapunzel had asked, tilting her head.

Moana’s eyebrows had lifted. “While most of us were unconscious?”

Demyx hadn’t been able to mount an argument, but he had still insisted on being tied up.

Now, Naminé smiled at all of them from her seat at a table in front of a corner made by the edges of two bookshelves. A book was open in front of her, but she closed it and turned to face them. “You got out. I knew you would.”

“You’re not gonna stop us?” Tiana asked, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Who are you, anyway?”

“My name is Naminé, and, no, I’m not going to stop you.” She got to her feet, brushing imaginary dust from her snow white dress. “I’m going to help you.”

Kairi frowned. “What’s the catch? Because you weren’t exactly in a hurry to help me when I was still in that cage.”

Naminé’s smile curled mischievously at the edges. “Wasn’t I? Demyx, why did you head down that hallway?”

“Ummm.” Demyx stopped scanning the room from any sign of the rest of the Organization to look at them with his dirty blonde eyebrows furrowed. “Because you told me to?”

“There’s more than one way to help someone,” Naminé concluded, giving Kairi a challenging stare. “And without my help, you _will_ get lost in Hollow Bastion and never find the front door. You need me. And I want to come with you.”

Kairi could feel the eyes of the Princesses on her, waiting for her, trusting her to make this call for their safety. Naminé’s blue-eyed stare never wavered. Kairi remembered the halting way that the woman had admitted to tampering with her memories, but she also remembered how Naminé had kept her company all the time and drawn her pictures. She remembered the last sketch that Naminé had left for her, one of Kairi reunited with her best friends. One that she claimed she wanted to help come true.

Kairi nodded. “All right. Let’s move.”

With Naminé’s help, they made it all the way to the Entrance Hall without being seen. But leaning against the front doors, waiting for them almost lazily, was none other than Axel, twirling one of his chakrams around a long finger.

“Demyx, Demyx, Demyx,” he drawled, straightening as the group headed down the balcony steps to face him. “I’d say I’m surprised, but that’d be a lie. You know the boss is gonna kill you, right?”

Demyx lifted his bound hands. “They overpowered me! Helloooo? What was I supposed to do?”

“Not be such a soft touch.” But Axel’s eyes quickly flicked from Demyx to Kairi, a slow smirk spreading on his face. “You said you’d find me. But one on eight isn’t exactly fair, is it?”

White-hot heat spread through her body at his tone and his words and his smug, smug face. Kairi told herself it was anger and only anger. Her hand tightened into a fist, remembering too late that she had no keyblade to call. It was just her and her rage and her magic and her fists.

And the seven women around her.

“Go,” she said in a low voice, not taking her eyes off Axel as he summoned his other chakram. She wondered why he made no move to call his keyblade. She wondered if he could even still call it after what he’d done. “I can handle him.”

“Kairi.” Queen Elsa came up alongside her, one hand still holding her sister’s while the other touched Kairi’s shoulder. “Don’t be foolish. If we leave you here, how will you get home?”

“How will _we_ get home?” Anna asked, her voice high with fear. “We’re trapped in some spooky castle in the middle of who-knows-what-world with no ship and no allies but each other and some guy who seems like he’d sell us out for a krumkake, probably.” She paused. “Not that I can blame him. Krumkake _is_ delicious. But—seriously—what do we do?”

Moana stepped forward, placing a hand over her heart and bending her head as if listening to something. To Kairi’s surprise, Moana’s chest started to glow with a radiant light… and then it spread. Anna’s heart glowed next, then Elsa’s, then Tiana’s, Rapunzel’s, and Merida’s. Kairi looked down to see her own chest shining with that same light, duller than everyone else’s but no less present.

The New Seven Lights. All of them, shining.

A beam shot from each of them and met in the center above their heads, coalescing into some sort of portal that floated down to their heights. Then it split apart, one door for each of them.

Naminé had covered her mouth in shock, but now lowered her hand to speak. “Maleficent always spoke about this, about being able to use the Princesses to unlock the Door to Darkness. But she never said that you could create Corridors of Light.” She shook her head, smiling again with an awed edge to her expression. “I think those doors will take you each wherever you want to go. And you should go quickly. It can’t be long before Maleficent notices that you’re missing.”

“Go,” Kairi said again, trying to keep her eyes from watering. Her power, small but present all the same, had opened the door back to Disney Castle. Her entire body longed to step through it, but if she could open it once then she wanted to believe she could do it again. After she settled her score. “Your worlds need you, and the further you get from this place, the better for all of them.”

Tiana raced into hers without another word, as if she’d left the fire on the metaphorical stove. Demyx darted after her before the door could close, yelling, "Run away, run away!" Merida went next, disappearing in a burst of light. Anna and Elsa gave Kairi twin looks of concern, but they stepped through their door arm-in-arm. Rapunzel lingered for so long that Kairi had to wave her off before she disappeared to the Kingdom of Corona. And then there was only Kairi, Naminé, and Moana.

And Axel.

“How did you know to do that?” Kairi asked, because she envied Moana’s calm certainty. “How did you know we could do that?”

“I didn’t. I just listened to what my heart told me.” Moana replied. “I know who I am. But every day I discover something new that I can do. And sometimes you don’t know what you can do until you have to do it.” She smiled. “Good luck and be strong, Kairi. Motonui owes you a great debt.”

Then she was gone.

Kairi hesitantly reached a hand out toward her own door and then clenched it into a fist. The Corridor of Light closed in response, leaving her in the dim Entrance Hall. Naminé shuffled closer and cleared her throat, reminding Kairi that she didn’t have time to mediate on what she could or could not do. Because what she had to do was beat some sense into a certain redhead.

Axel waved when she finally turned to look at him. He had a chakram in each hand, but they weren’t ablaze. She stepped closer to him, her fists clenched in case she needed to throw another punch today.

“What’s your game plan now?” she asked as they circled each other. “You put me in a cage for Maleficent. But now I’m out, and you’re not lifting a finger. Are you with me or are you against me?”

“Not everything is _about_ you.” He stopped moving when he was standing between her and Naminé, sighing so heavily that his shoulders slumped. “Look, Maleficent has gone to Disney Castle to help Pete do his job faster. That leaves Xemnas, Xigbar, Marluxia, and Larxene hanging around to keep an eye on us, and they’re not going to keep too close an eye. If we move fast, we can all get out of here.”

“‘All’?”

Axel glanced over his shoulder. “Naminé.”

“Not here. It’ll… it’ll take a while.” She ducked her head, her hands clenched before her. “I’m sorry.”

He sighed again. “The other thing, then.”

Kairi’s gaze slid between them, her lips thinning from how unsurprised she was to be betrayed again today. “You’re working together. Of course you are. That’s why you got rid of everyone else.” God, she was stupid. How was she this stupid? Why did she keep trusting people? Why did she keep hoping? “What do you _want_?”

“I’m sorry,” Naminé said again.

Then she lifted her hands toward Kairi and everything went black.

 

 

Between the two of them, Riku and Mickey took down Xaldin and Luxord more easily than either of them would have alone. The battle left him exhausted and using his keyblade to hold himself up, but it was over and that was what mattered.

He updated his father on what was going on in the Courtyard while they got themselves together, but Riku found it hard to get his heart rate back down. Not with Sora and his mother having run out to find Ventus. Not when he still didn’t know where Sora had been and why he hadn’t arrived in the same gummi ship he’d left in. Not when Kairi was missing and he hadn’t even begun to find her.

“Goofy said he was going to rally an army, but I didn’t think this was what he meant,” Mickey said, sounding pleased and yet overwhelmed by his people’s willingness to fight for their home. “The Cornerstone is dead, so our only hope now is to find Disney Castle’s keyhole and seal it. With this many heartless around, it’s got to be open, and they’ll consume the heart of the world if we don’t beat them to it.”

“Where’s the keyhole?” Riku asked as they ascended the stairs back to the Audience Chamber and closed the entrance to the Hall of the Cornerstone. “Tell me where it is and I’ll seal it.”

“It won’t destroy the heartless,” Mickey warned. “Not like the Cornerstone. It will just keep them from plunging Disney Castle into darkness.”

“I don’t care. I need to do _something_.” Riku ran a shaking hand through his hair. “All of this is my fault. I didn’t try hard enough. With the Princesses. I said I was going to give Sora up and focus on them, but I didn’t. Not really. I still thought about him. We were… together in every way that mattered. There was no room in my heart for them, and I didn’t even really try to make room, and now the Cornerstone is dead and Disney Castle might fall and it’s _my fault_ —”

“ _Stop it_!”

Riku didn’t realize he’d started to cry until he looked at his father through his suddenly blurry vision. Mickey’s tone was sharp, sharper than it had ever been when speaking to him, and it made the remorse and self-loathing freeze in Riku’s chest. His father was glaring up at him, looking as fierce and as intimidating as he was short.

“You stop that right now,” Mickey snapped. “None of this is your fault, Riku. Minnie and I told you from the beginning that you didn’t have to do this for us or anybody else. We’re still the king and queen, and the continued safety of this world isn’t on your shoulders alone. Not yet. We stand together, we fall together, and we take the blame _together_. So maybe your marriage plan could have worked out. Maybe Minnie’s light magic could have been stronger. Maybe I could have had fail safes in place for if the Cornerstone ever failed. Or maybe all of the above, and this still would have happened anyway. It doesn’t matter anymore. What’s the mark of a good leader?”

“How you respond when everything goes wrong,” Riku parroted, wiping the tears from his cheek.

“Exactly. So don’t close the keyhole because you feel guilty. Close it because this is your kingdom and your people and you’ll do anything to keep them safe. All right?”

The smile that rose on Riku’s face was small but genuine. “All right.”

Mickey smiled back. “The keyhole is in the Raceway. Yen Sid has enchanted it so that it can only be accessed by a descendant of the House of Mouse. You head out and close it, and I’ll go help Goofy and Donald.”

Riku took four steps toward the door before turning back around and getting to his knees to envelope his father in a hug.

Mickey laughed in surprise and then hugged him back. “I love you, too. Now, go on.”

The trip to the Raceway passed in a blur of heartless battles that blended together after the first three. They were everywhere, and Riku had no time to properly engage them. By the end, he was swinging his keyblade aimlessly, just to clear a path to where he needed to be.

The Raceway was deserted, but not as overrun as Riku would have expected considering what was hidden there. It seemed like Pete had truly concentrated his attack on the palace, because there were only a few shadows to be dispatched before Riku was alone in the wide-open field. Nothing in particular called out to him as a keyhole, and there was _so much_ to the Raceway to explore.

“I should have asked for more specific directions,” Riku mused aloud. “Or at least if it was possible for me to even find it if I was adopted into the House of Mouse.” He didn’t think his father would have considered the latter thing as an option let alone a concern, though. Riku didn’t have to share his blood to be his blood.

Experimentally, he held Soul Eater out as a homing beacon. After all, what could find a keyhole better than a keyblade? The tip of the blade began to glow, and Riku smiled at the thought of all of this being over so quickly.

But then a cavernous hole of shadows appeared in the air before him, his keyblade flaring brighter in response to it, and he realized how misplaced his optimism was.

Especially when none other than Maleficent stepped through the Corridor of Darkness and gazed down at him as if he was little more than a bug.

“Well, if it isn’t the human prince,” she sneered, pointing her staff at him. “A weed in the garden of my plans.”

“Calling me a weed when you look like one?” Riku scoffed. “That’s pretty rich.”

“How _dare_ you.” The orb in the staff glowed yellow and Riku dived to avoid the stream of fire that scorched the ground where he had just been. “You would dare to be foolish enough to disrespect the Mistress of All Evil?”

“You’re destroying my home, and you think _I’m_ disrespecting _you_?” He threw a blizzard spell at her, but she knocked it to the side with her staff as if it were nothing. “Get out of my world or I’ll throw you out!”

Maleficent cackled. “You truly think that you can defeat me? _Me_? Stupid boy.” She crooked a finger at him, red lips tipped upward in a savage smirk. “Come. Let me show you how wrong you are.”

 

 

Once again, Kairi awoke in darkness.

She was on her feet in seconds, her skin crawling with a familiar wrongness. Her heart began to race as her eyes adjusted to the gloom to show her almost nothing she recognized. White stone and endless shadows and, across from her, Axel, Naminé, and Roxas.

Only one of them looked apologetic.

Kairi threw herself at Axel fist first. He dodged her first strike and her second and then wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off her feet. She kicked at him, gratified when he grunted in pain and stumbled back against the far wall. He still didn’t release her, but she wriggled and wiggled and threw her head back and forth, trying to headbutt him, trying to bite him, trying to inflict as much damage as she could.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?” she screamed before his hand slapped over her mouth.

“ _Calm down_ ,” he hissed. “And I’ll _show_ you.”

Telling her to calm down only made Kairi more furious. She managed to get one of her arms free and punched Axel in the eye. He cursed and dropped her. She rolled onto her feet and launched herself at him again, only to be yanked back by both arms. Roxas held onto her now, and he cursed even more colorfully than Axel when she slammed them both back against the wall. As soon as his hands loosened on her, she threw herself at Axel again.

“Kairi – _ow_ – listen, you have every right to be mad – _fuck_ – at me, and I’ll explain everything later, but right now we _need to get out of here_. Do you want to get out of here or do you just want to bite me until you get caught?”

Kairi, who had sunk her teeth into Axel’s forearm coat and all, glared up at him. He was wincing, but there was an amused glint in his eyes that made her bite harder.

“ _Ow_ ,” he grunted and shook her off. “Just go in there and get Xion, _please_ , for fuck’s sake.”

The name brought Kairi up short as a tickle of a memory unfurled at the back of her mind. Xion. Who was Xion? And why did her stomach churn with guilt? What did she have to feel guilty about in this situation?

“Where?” she asked shortly.

Axel and Naminé shuffled to the side to reveal a door she hadn’t seen before but now couldn’t look away from. It was metal and it was glowing, giving the hallway what dim light it had. Kairi stepped forward on instinct, though she could hear her own heart beating. Familiar. This was all so familiar.

The door creaked open to reveal a room that made goosebumps rise on her arms.

She knew this place.

She knew this room.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. The wrongness pressed down on her again, even worse with all the ghosts in this room. Herself. Ventus. The boy from the streets. The children that had come before, the failed experiments before Ventus. Xehanort was like a specter in here, freezing her insides with fear of something she couldn’t name.

Kairi had no idea how long she was paralyzed before someone touched her arm. She flinched and turned to see a girl with short black hair and big blue eyes watching her hesitantly. The girl looked gaunt, with bags under her eyes offset by her tan skin, and the black dress that she wore was ratty and hung off her thin body.

The guilt returned with a vengeance. “Xion?”

“He said you’d come, but I…” The girl’s lips trembled. “Can we go?”

Kairi wrapped an arm around Xion’s shaking shoulders and led her toward the door. Xion tensed against Kairi as they stepped out, but then seemed to melt. Literally. Her knees gave out, and Kairi nearly collapsed under her weight before Roxas rushed forward to catch them both.

“Xion,” he said, voice thick with tears. “Xion, you’re okay. We’re here. I told you we’d get you out. I told you.”

“Roxas,” she murmured. “Where’s—?”

Even with an impressive bruise forming around his eye, Axel still looked teary as he stepped into view. “I’m right here.”

Kairi stepped backward to give the three friends room to embrace, bewildered but unable to deny how sweet it was to watch even without any context. She glanced beside her to see that even Naminé was crying.

“Can you explain what’s going on?” she whispered, keeping her head turned away from that basement room. “I’m so lost.”

“Xion was a member of the Organization. She worked at Disney Castle. You were friends.” Naminé’s whispered words cut right through Kairi as she reached for a memory that didn’t exist. “The three of them tried to resign from Maleficent’s employ, but she wouldn’t let them. She trapped Xion in that room and threatened to kill her if Axel and Roxas wouldn’t keep working for her. And then she had me wipe Xion from everyone’s memory so Axel and Roxas couldn’t even get help rescuing her. On one particularly petty day, Maleficent even had me make them unable to _talk_ about her.” Naminé ducked her head, the way Kairi was learning that she did when she was feeling particularly ashamed. “It took both of them a long time to forgive me for my role in this. I think the only reason they did is because she forgave me first.”

“You were scared,” Xion said, breaking away from Axel and Roxas to come over and pull Naminé into a hug, too. The blonde girl stood still for a moment before slowly returning it. “We were all scared. I’m not going to be mad at you when Maleficent is right upstairs waiting to get her butt kicked.”

“A light breeze could probably take you right now,” Axel pointed out. “But, sure, okay.” His gaze met Kairi’s and his smile faded. “I’m not going to apologize. You wanted to know what side I’m on? The answer is my own. Only a Princess of Heart could get that door open, let alone get her out of there. I needed you here, and if it satisfied Maleficent at the same time, well.”

Kairi scowled. “There are six other Princesses of Heart. Why did it have to be _me_?”

“Because you were the only one who would get out of that cage.”

Not could. _Would_. Kairi bit the inside of her cheek to keep from doing something stupid, like smiling or punching him again. 

Realizing that she wasn’t going to do either, Axel came forward until he was close enough to touch, but not so close that Kairi felt trapped. His eyes were very, very green as he looked down at her. “And you asked me why I needed you to care about me. It was all so you'd believe me when I say this: Take Xion and Naminé with you. Keep them safe. I know better than to bargain for me and Roxas, but if you just take the girls away from here, you won’t have to worry about us or the rest of the Organization. We’ll take care of it.”

“You don’t need me to care about you to ask me to do that,” Kairi murmured. “Of course I’ll take them with me. You knew I would. No.” This time, she was the one who stepped forward until she had to crane her head back to maintain eye contact. “I don’t think making me care about you was part of your plan. And I don’t think you caring about me was part of it either.”

“Oh my god,” Roxas groaned from behind them. “I hate this. I hate everything about this. How are you two still like this? I’m going to lose my dinner.”

“I think it’s cute,” Xion said with laughter in her voice. “Hush and let them finish.”

“Our lives are kind of in danger,” Naminé said mildly. “But please continue.”

“ _But_ ,” Kairi continued as if none of them had spoken. “You attacked me, you kidnapped me, you manipulated me, and you got my keyblade broken. I understand why you felt like you had to do what you did, but I don’t forgive you. I’m going to be pissed off for a really long time.”

Axel pointed at his eye, but his gaze was fond. “I got that, yeah.”

“A _really_ long time,” she repeated. “You’ll probably die before I stop being mad about this. That said.” Kairi put a hand over her chest and tried to feel the pulse of power that she had felt when her fellow Princesses had surrounded her. There was nothing but her heartbeat for a long time, but then something within her began to sing and a flickering Corridor of Light appeared before her. “We’re _all_ going back to Disney Castle. No idiot man gets left behind.”

Roxas helped Xion through the doorway. Naminé went next. Kairi lifted both eyebrows at Axel until he walked through. Then and only then, in a hallway empty of other people and yet full of horror, did she allow herself to release a shaky breath. The emotions that she didn’t have time to deal with threatened to yank her under, but she couldn’t let them. Not yet.

The ominous open metal door burned in the corner of her eye as she stepped through her Corridor and into the light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The new final chapter will post Tuesday, June 18, since I just need to tweak it a little. Again, please don't hate me.


	11. Champions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at how long this is, and you'll understand why I decided to split up the finale into two chapters. Strap in!

Sephiroth was a black smudge against the expanse of blue, which made him easy to track.

Leon kept pace with Cloud as they raced through the battlefield, trying to keep one eye on Cloud’s ex. Focusing on that, on keeping Sephiroth from getting away, stopped Cloud from focusing on the guilt that was eating away at him as they ran. Because Leon may have thought that Sephiroth had done this for him, but they both knew that he had really done it for Cloud. Fifteen years and their relationship was still like a poisoned-tipped blade to both of their throats. Waiting to infect them, to kill them, with its toxicity.

When were they going to stop being this obsessed with each other? Leon’s footsteps pounding behind him made self-hate swirl in with Cloud’s guilt. It was at times like this that Cloud couldn’t believe Leon loved him as much as he did. No one else would put up with him. With this thing between him and Sephiroth that would never go away.

And yet he was sure that he couldn’t get through this  _without_  Leon. What a mess.

Sephiroth began to descend beyond a line of trees and Cloud sped up to meet him, wondering where the hell in Disney Town he could possibly be going. Distantly, he heard a boom, a crack of lightning, a shout, and he realized for the first time that maybe Sephiroth wasn’t hiding from him. Maybe he’d been summoned for backup.

He grabbed Buster Sword off his back just in case.

When he and Leon broke off the path from the palace and into the town proper, the first thing they saw was chaos. Wooden slats had been turned to splinters that coated the streets. Shattered stone was smoking every which way. The Raceway doors had been blown off their hinges; one of them was sticking out of the front wall of a shop. The other was frozen solid in the center of Main Plaza.

And through the hole in the Raceway entrance, Cloud could see the prince swinging his keyblade at none other than Maleficent. Sephiroth circled the sky overhead, as if considering whether Maleficent needed him to get involved.

Cloud’s shoulders tensed with anger. Surely, that couldn’t be right. Sephiroth couldn’t be acting as if Cloud had never gotten through to him. The way he had said Cloud’s name in the hallway, Cloud had been so certain…

“ _Cloud_.” He blinked, turning to look at Leon. Leon’s brows were furrowed, which made his scar pinch the center of his face even more than usual. It clearly wasn’t the first time he’d said Cloud’s name. “What’s the plan?”

For a moment, he couldn’t process the absurdity of Leon expecting him to come up with the plan when he barely knew his ass from his head right now. But it was always up to him, wasn’t it?  _“Nothing you don’t want,”_  Leon had promised him, all the way back when they had decided to give this a try. The first building block in the confidence that Cloud now used to command the Black Coats, to help protect the kingdom, to do even something as simple as complain that Leon worked too much for his liking.

That Leon thought him capable of taking control even here and now when he felt frayed at the edges gave Cloud the strength he needed to take a breath. “I’ll help the prince. You use the Revolver to shoot Sephiroth out of the sky. Toward me, if you can, but if we can just keep him on the ground, we can stop him.”

Leon watched him silently. Cloud swallowed. Made the call.

“ _Whatever_ it takes to stop him. Okay?”

“Okay,” Leon said, voice even. Without judgement.

Affection welled up in Cloud’s chest. “Hey. I fucking love you, you know?”

“Babe. You sold your sold to the god of death to bring me back to life.” Leon’s face was stoic, but amusement glittered in his blue-grey eyes. “You never actually have to say those words to me again for me to know that.”

“I  _want_  to,” Cloud said, stepping forward to touch the side of Leon’s neck. Leon’s pulse beat under his fingers, steady and strong. “I know that – that being with me has never been easy, especially lately, and I don’t—”

“I don’t care about easy, Cloud. I care about  _you_. I love  _you_.” Leon pressed a kiss to the high arch of his left cheek and then his right. “And honestly loving you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”

Cloud let him have it for all of thirty seconds before he wrinkled his nose. “Sap.”

“Wow, what happened to ‘I fucking love you’?”

Cloud laughed, and it felt like a weight on his shoulders shattered, allowing him to take his first clear breath since he’d awoken in Olympus. He was still chuckling as he turned to face the Raceway, where Riku clashed with the so-called Mistress of all Evil and Sephiroth continued to hover like a vulture against the setting sun. He and Leon walked side by side into the track together, weapons drawn and shoulders brushing until they separated to their respective tasks.

Cloud arced his sword in front of Riku to protect him from a blast from Maleficent’s staff, grunting when it pushed him backward.

Riku’s face was open with relief at the sight of him. “You’re all right. Thank god. Sora is—”

“I saw him,” Cloud said, sending a series of Blizzard spells at Maleficent. She faded out of the way, appearing at the other end of the track to gear up for another devastating rainfall of magic. “Are  _you_  all right?”

Riku looked hollowed out, as if he hadn’t slept in days, but all he said was, “I’m fine. There’s a keyhole here somewhere that I need to seal. Can you keep her busy?”

“Oh, sure,” Cloud said, flinching when Sephiroth dipped low enough to stab Masamune into the ground where Leon had just been standing. Leon rolled back onto his feet and shot another fire ball at him, but it was so close that Cloud’s heart leaped into his chest. “Sure, yeah, I got this.”

Dragging his eyes away from his fiancé, Cloud jetted toward Maleficent for a Cross Slash, distracting her so that Riku could get away. Leon could take care of himself when Sephiroth didn’t catch him by surprise. He couldn’t let what happened in Olympus Coliseum make him doubt that now. He had to stick to the plan and buy the prince enough time to save their world.

Even if he couldn’t breathe around his own choking fear.

 _Whatever it takes,_  he thought as if Leon could hear him. As if Leon hadn’t heard the subtext earlier, but would feel it now.  _If it’s down to you or him,_   _I choose you._

_Please choose you._

 

 

Ven wasn’t in the library, but Chip and Dale were. They were running across the keys of a computer, doing... computer stuff. It looked like the projector in the war council room but bulkier, and Sora, who couldn’t computer to save his life, didn’t quite trust it. He weaved around the table, calling a hello to them, and led Queen Minnie and Zack through the doors on the other side of the library.

There he found Aqua, Terra, and Ven, clearing out the last of the heartless from the hallway. Every one that exploded was one less whisper in Sora’s ear until they were all gone and he could think again. As soon as Sora laid eyes on Ven, he wanted to blurt out, “Roxas tried to kill me!” But Roxas hadn’t _really_ tried to kill him – Sora was sure that if Roxas had been trying, he would have succeeded – and he hadn’t completely ruled out the idea that there might be a good explanation for all of this.

“Hi, Aqua,” Zack said, hoisting Buster Sword up on his shoulder. His bicep seemed to ripple, almost like… like…

“Are you  _flexing_?” Sora asked.

“What? No.” Zack quickly stuffed Buster Sword back into its sheath. Sora blinked, baffled by the display, but Master Aqua either hadn’t heard their exchange or was choosing to ignore it.

“Are you all right now, Sora?” she asked instead, dismissing Brightcrest and peering at him in concern. “Ven said you were in trouble?”

Sora laughed, folding his arms behind his head. “Ah, yeah, but I’m fine now! He helped me out.”

He turned away before she could ask him how and with what, wandering back to the queen’s side and trying to make it look natural. The way Aqua’s eyes burned into his back made it clear that she totally knew that he was running away from her line of questioning, but she didn’t say anything and that was what mattered.

“—channel Pearl through you and direct it into the Cornerstone,” Minnie was saying. “Then maybe—”

“Oh, um, I don’t think—I don’t think that will work.” Ven looked at Sora and then averted his gaze. “I kind of… used the last of it to help Sora?”

Sora’s stomach dropped. “Wait, the last of what? You don’t mean…”

“The half of Kairi’s magic that I had… I can’t feel it anymore. Not since I woke up.” Ven’s hand came up to rest over his heart. “I think it’s gone.”

Sora saw Minnie’s face fall before she managed to school her expression and swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat. Gone. Ventus’ Prince of Heart magic was gone because he’d used it all to save Sora. If Sora had managed to find his own way out of the Realm of Darkness… if he hadn’t needed saving…

Another avenue to saving Disney Castle was now closed, and it was his fault.

Well, and Roxas’ fault, he supposed. But he only had control over himself, and the fact that Sora couldn’t even find his way out of the Realm of Darkness with a legendary keyblade seemed like a joke waiting to be written.

“Well,” said Minnie. And then she said it again. But she seemed to have run out of ideas.

Her shoulders were slumped. Ven still wasn’t meeting anyone’s eyes. Aqua, Terra, and Zack were silent. Sora looked around at everyone, looked at the hopelessness that tinged their expressions, and something in him hardened. _No_. He wouldn’t accept this as the end. How many times had Disney Castle been in danger now? How many times had Sora himself been in danger? And every time, they had pulled through. The king and queen. The war council. The guards. Sora and Riku and Kairi together. They hadn’t won this much by giving up when things looked grim.

And suddenly Sora knew what they had to do.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said, startling everyone. “It doesn’t matter if Ven has his powers or not. We’ve been looking at this the wrong way.”

“We have?” Minnie asked slowly.

“The Princesses of Heart have the strongest light magic, so of course any one of them could fix the Cornerstone. But they’re not the only people with light magic, right? Your Majesty,” Sora gazed down at her, urging her with his eyes to follow his train of thought. “What if _all_ of us channeled our light magic into the Cornerstone at once? All of us, together, could be strong enough to equal the power of a single Princess, right?”

“Everyone together?” A smile spread on Minnie’s face, her eyes bright. “Oh, Sora, that’s brilliant!” 

“Is it safe?” Aqua mused. “To tell everyone about the Cornerstone? What if—“

Terra rested a hand on her shoulder. “ _Maleficent_  knows about it. At this point, keeping it a secret is helping no one and protecting nothing.”

They held gazes until the worried crinkle between Aqua’s eyebrows faded. Then she nodded at Sora in support. Zack and Ven were already grinning, and Sora realized in that moment that everyone was looking at him to take the lead here. Even the queen. It was... weird.

It was even weirder how confident he felt when he spoke. “You guys head down. I’ll go to the Courtyard and gather as many magic users as we can spare to fill the room and give it all we’ve got.” And then, because he was who he was, he grinned. “And then, together, we save the day!”

 

 

The Corridor spat them out midway between the castle and the town. Kairi made a face when she saw the distance they would have to run to get to either place. It had obviously been too optimistic for her to expect her newfound power to work perfectly the first time she tried to use it.

She turned around to look at the crew she had arrived with. Three people she didn’t trust, and a friend that she didn’t remember. Roxas and Naminé were on either side of Xion, helping her walk on legs that were unused to travel that was further than the length of a room. Axel trailed behind them, his eyes distant, his face pensive.

Kairi gave up on trying to act like she didn’t care what was on his mind. But before she could drift over to him, he approached her. “Does it seem too quiet to you?”

Quiet was an overstatement. Behind her, she could hear the sounds of flickering flames and crashing rocks. Ahead of her, she could hear faint shouts and war cries. Battle caged them in; the question was which one to join.

Then, she realized what he meant. “Disney Castle is under attack, but there’s no one  _here_. On the road. Why?”

“We got out of there too easily,” Axel confirmed, scanning the area with his entire body tensed in anticipation. “And now it’s quiet.”

They didn’t have to wait long. A massive, four-legged heartless fell from the sky, snorting at them from between two massive tusks that curved up from its lilac lower jaw. An equally sharp black horn jutted from the center of a fuchsia forehead, and yellow eyes stared coldly down at them. Sitting with her legs on either side of that horn was none other than Larxene, a smirk on her face.

“Naughty, naughty, Nami!” she called, wagging a finger in Naminé’s direction. “And you two. You know what happens to traitors. Especially _you_ , Axel.”

“You really want to talk to me about traitors, Larxene?” Axel asked, sounding for all the world like she was boring him. “Get out of my way.”

The smirk slid off of Larxene’s face. “I’m going to enjoy this.” Her laugh, when it came, sounded forced to Kairi’s ear. “Of all the beasties Maleficent and Vexen have used those Reports to make, this has got to be my favorite. Come on, Behemoth.” She patted the heartless on the horn and then jabbed a gloved finger at them. “Let’s get them!” 

The heartless — Behemoth — reared back on its hind legs and leaped at them.

Kairi charged forward to meet it before remembering she didn’t have a keyblade. Behemoth was so large that his body blocked out the sun, and fear spiked through her, freezing her to the ground. They hadn’t yet learned how to do magic without the use of a weapon, except for Cure. And she’d rather not get hurt in the first place.

Something yanked her back and suddenly Axel was in front of her, chakrams drawn. “Protect Xion and Naminé!” 

The chakrams flared with flames and he threw one after another at Behemoth. They bounced off like they were made of plastic, but the force knocked the heartless off course. It landed to their right, shaking the world so hard that Kairi and Axel were thrown off their feet. 

_Protect Xion and Naminé._

Though every part of her aching body itched to crawl over to Axel, Kairi stumbled to her feet and ran toward Roxas. The air around them flickered with light as she ran, but Kairi hardly noticed it until she reached Roxas’ side. He wasted no time in passing Xion off to her and summoning his keyblades. 

“She’s just trapped us in here,” he said, pointing to the lightly glimmering, nearly translucent wall now behind him. “So just keep out of the way.” 

And then he was gone. Kairi tried not to let her hackles rise at the dismissiveness, knowing he was too frantic to be anything but brusque. He hadn’t meant to make it sound like she was useless. She _was_ , but Roxas was hardly the type to maliciously point that out right now. 

Xion leaned heavily against her, frowning at her friends as they teamed up to defeat the hulking heartless. “I hate this. I should be fighting with them.” 

“You need to get better first,” Naminé said gently, resting a hand on Xion’s back and trying to catch her eye. “You matter more to them than just as an extra set of hands wielding a keyblade.”

Kairi swallowed at the mirror of her own issues with Sora and Riku. No wonder Axel had known just what to say to her. No wonder she and Xion had been friends. 

She adjusted her grip on Xion so she could see her better. “Naminé’s right. They’re your best friends. They were going to let this whole world burn if it meant saving your life. The best thing you can do to help them right now is to make it all worth it by staying safe.” 

The bags under Xion’s eyes looked even darker when she smiled. The smile looked like it hurt. “Okay. But shouldn’t you be over there, Kairi? Where’s your keyblade?”

 _Ask Roxas,_ Kairi mentally grumbled but didn’t say. Before she could come up with a better excuse, something flashed in the corner of her eye. She shoved Naminé and Xion to the ground, barely avoiding the blast of lightning that tore the air over their heads. 

“Don’t ignore me!” Larxene cackled from the Behemoth now pointed toward them. Axel was a shaking puddle of fabric on the far side of the road and Roxas was running at her and the heartless from the back. “All three of you are coming with me and—“

Roxas flipped over her head and slapped her off the Behemoth with his keyblade like she was a fly.

Larxene hit the ground so hard that she kicked up dirt, and the Behemoth roared as if it could feel that pain. Kairi helped Xion and Naminé to their feet and then ran until she hit the wall and could run along it, out of the heartless’ line of sight and away from Larxene’s prone body. They passed Axel and as one she and Naminé shouted “Cura!” The combined green mist coated his body and had him back on his feet seconds after it faded. 

But Kairi didn’t just want to be someone who ran and who healed. It was important, those things, but they weren’t in her nature. She had trained too hard. She had lost too much. She had felt too much rage. Maybe in another life, she could have been that supportive person who didn’t care when or if she could fight, content just to be a part of something. But she _was_ a fighter, and she wasn’t content to just be a good one. She wanted to be _powerful_. She wanted to save. She wanted to protect. 

She wanted to tear Larxene a new asshole right through the center of her smug fucking face.

Kairi saw a similar spark reflected in Xion and Naminé’s eyes. As they came to a stop at behind a copse of trees hopefully removed enough from the battle, she eased Xion into a sitting position and crouched down next to her.

“Munny for your thoughts?” She asked them as Naminé crouched on Xion’s other side.

“Did you see the picture I left you?” Naminé asked.

Guilt licked at her as she remembered _how_ she’d seen it. “Um, yes. Why?”

“Kairi, your power... it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. And I don’t just mean being a Princess of Heart,” Naminé held up a hand, cutting her off before she could even begin to explain that she was defective, “The strength of your heart has nothing to do with that. Your capacity to care about others, even when they’ve hurt you or even when you don’t know them, is so rare. And Riku and Sora...”

Kairi’s heart ached at the mention of her friends, the reminder that this battle was only one of many happening around her and she had no idea where they were or if they were okay. Or if she would die here before she got to see them again.

“The three of you, your hearts are the same. You need each other. You give each other strength.” Naminé continued. “I just wanted to remind you of that.”

Kairi frowned. “Do you know them? Were we… Were we friends, too?”

“Well, no.” Now Naminé was refusing to meet Kairi’s eyes. “When I use my power… The way it works, I have to look through your memories to alter or remove them. So, in a way, I know everyone.”

 _And no one ever knew me_  went unspoken, but Kairi heard it anyway. She swallowed past the awkward acknowledgement that Naminé had been poking around in her head, because her sympathy for the blonde outweighed her fear of what she could do. Naminé had given no indication of how long Maleficent had kept her trapped in Castle Oblivion, but there was a certain haunted look in her and Xion’s eyes that Kairi was sure she lacked.

Because she’d never known what it was like to be alone. Not really. Even before she had met Sora and Riku, she had always had Umiko. And after she had met Sora and Riku, Kairi had never been alone unless she wanted to be. Even when she and Riku couldn’t talk without their feelings for Sora getting in the way. Even when she’d been forced to quietly deal with the fact that Sora would never love her. Even when Sora and Riku got so wrapped up in their competitions that they forgot about everything but each other. Even when she’d been kidnapped and held hostage in Hollow Bastion. She was _never_ truly alone.

Unbidden, Kairi thought of the moment when Axel had looked right at her and posed that rhetorical taunt:  _What power does she have to stop you?_  Maleficent had immediately shattered her keyblade, but she hadn’t shattered Kairi’s heart. Because it didn’t belong to just her and Destiny’s Embrace was not the only weapon in her arsenal. What power did she have?

 _“…You are exactly as dedicated and hardworking and fierce a teacher as Axel needs. That’s the kind of person you’ve always been...”_

_“…You’re… charming. Genuinely kind. Brave as hell, whip smart, and a tongue sharp enough to cut diamonds…”_

_“…It’s part of what makes you you. And it’s up to you to decide who you want to be and what you want your life to be...”_

_“…in a world that never showed her any kindness, the little girl had made her kindness her light and her strength…”_

Her friends – her _family_ – were her power.

The leaves rustled as Larxene crashed through the trees, holding her side with one hand while three throwing knives glinted from between the fingers of the other. Her eyes were feral, her smile promising violence. “Here you losers are. Time to say nighty night.”

Naminé threw herself in front of Xion as Larxene’s knives hurtled through the air. Kairi’s heart thudded so loud that the world seemed to pulse with it.

_Tha-thump._

_Tha-thump._

_Tha- **thump**._

Each of Larxene’s knives hit a different tree around them, digging in or pinging harmlessly to the ground. Her mouth was open around a snarl, but Kairi couldn’t focus directly on her. Instead, she focused on the two keyblades in her hand, crossed like a shield protecting herself, Naminé, and Xion.

The one in her right had a handle bearing two angel wings, its shaft displaying two hearts, its teeth shaped like a snowflake. The dangling keychain, a star made of Thalassa Shells like the ones that had coated the beach the night she and Sora had met, read “Oathkeeper.” The one in her left hand looked so much like Soul Eater that for a moment Kairi gasped, thinking she had left Riku weaponless by summoning his keyblade. But the one she was holding had a straight wing instead of a curved one, the guard made of an angel wing and a demon wing. Another wing made up the teeth, that one dark grey. The keychain was the same red-lined black heart that was on Behemoth’s chest; it read “Way to Dawn.”

They both glowed as fiercely as her chest was glowing, warm in a way that Kairi only felt when she was with Sora and Riku. She really _was_ never alone.

Larxene recovered from her shock before Kairi did. Another round of throwing knives appeared in her hands. “Why you little punk—”

Kairi dropped back into the same defensive position she’d seen Roxas use in their spar, a smile dawning on her face.

“Nighty night,” she said, and then attacked.

 

 

Sora stared out at the Courtyard with wide eyes.

It seemed like everyone who had ever lived in Disney Castle was there, keeping the heartless at bay with little more than household tools. Their hearts were united in their desire to protect their home, lending their brooms and pipes and wrenches and pans a power they wouldn’t have had otherwise. The sight bolstered his belief in his plan to save the Cornerstone. Look how much more people could accomplished when they did it together.

There were two people to every heartless in the Courtyard, many of them working together to take them down. No matter the size of the heartless, people dipped and dived around the hedge statues, distracting the monsters so that someone else could come in with the killing blow.

Not that the heartless were even scared.  _Hearts…_ they hissed mindlessly, uncaring that they leaped to their doom.  _Hearts… want… hearts… take…_ Whatever or whoever they had been before, they were single-minded creatures of darkness now. And they would prey on the heart of this world if Sora didn’t stop them.

He found Donald first, who was blowing a group of heartless away with an Aero spell and then casting another one to cloak Goofy with a shield of winds as he charged by.

“Hey!” Sora said, coming up alongside him. “Are you busy?”

Donald gave him a look, sarcasm dripping off every word, “No, of  _course_  not!”

Sora just beamed at him, twisting around to slap a shadow heartless away with Oblivion. “Queen Minnie needs you and every magic user you can find in the Hall of the Cornerstone. Spread the word!”

It was a testament to either how dire the situation was or how powerful Queen Minnie’s name was that Donald didn’t even pause to get sassy with Sora before he ran off toward Yen Sid's figure in the distance. Sora ran in the opposite direction, catching Umiko, catching Merlin, catching Hercules as he knocked two heartless together to clear a path for Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

“Hi, Sora!” Hercules called as he passed, waving one of his broad arms. “Long time, no see. Don’t you owe me a rematch?”

“Hi, Herc!” Sora called back, leapfrogging over a heartless in armor that imploded from his fire spell. “You name the time and place!”

And then Sora was diving into the crowd again, following the clarion call of explosions to Pete. The cat was standing in front of the entrance to the Gummi Hangar with a heartless in each hand. They were shaped like bombs with spindly legs, their golden eyes mostly hidden by the exterior shell that snapped closed when Pete threw one. It rolled into the crowd and seconds later it exploded, sending grass and dirt and people flying.

Pete cackled, drawing his arm back to throw the other.

“Hey!” Sora snapped. “Cut it out!”

Pete turned, still holding the bomb, and his faint surprise faded into pure disdain. “Don’t you tell me what to do! Can’t you see I’m the new king of this world?”

“You’re _delusional_. You’re not the king of this world! You’re just Maleficent’s lapdog!”

“I’ll show you lapdog!”

Pete threw the second bomb. Sora stepped back and swung Oblivion like a bat, hitting the heartless back the way it had come. Pete screamed and ran as it exploded in mid-air, nearly blowing off his head. Sora used the distraction to run at Pete, ready to take his head off for real. 

Then Pete grabbed Duchess Daisy as she ran by with her arms full of potions, holding her in front of himself like a feathered shield. He smirked at Sora over her head as she struggled in his grasp, the bottles clinking to the ground where they would be of no help to anyone.

“Now how aboutcha just calm down?” Pete cooed. “And let me walk away?” 

Duchess Daisy wriggled even more. “Ignore me, Sora! He can’t be allowed to get away with what he’s done!”

Sora’s fingers tightened on Oblivion, but he couldn’t bring himself to attack if there was even a chance of Duchess Daisy getting hurt. Pete’s smirk widened and he moved as though to take a step back—

—but then he didn’t. He rocked back and forth, off balance for a moment before righting himself, and then looked down. Sora followed his line of sight to find that Pete’s feet were frozen to the grass, coated in ice so cold it released a light mist into the air. He stared down at Oblivion, wondering if his keyblade had cast Blizzard without him. 

Then the ice began to climb up the length of Pete’s legs.

Pete dropped Duchess Daisy with a surprised shout and leaned down, trying to crack it with his fists, but it ate at his limbs like a cocoon. A light was glowing from behind him, brighter than anything that Sora had ever seen. Seconds later, Queen Elsa stepped out from the glowing door, her hands pointed at Pete’s legs as she created the ice that trapped him in place. 

Relief flooded Sora’s body. “Your Majesty!”

“Hi, Sora!” said a second voice, a chipper voice, as Princess Anna stumbled out of the Corridor of Light with her boyfriend Kristoff on a reindeer behind her. She was wielding a sword, her hair braided back into a crown that made her look remarkably like her sister. “We all thought you could use some help.” 

Corridors of Light appeared all around them, emitting a second army. Merida led a company of warriors out of DunBroch, her bow and arrow drawn, three identical redheads that must have been her brothers flanking her. Rapunzel and a dark-haired man that must have been Eugene appeared, her wielding a frying pan and him rolling a barrel over a line of heartless before he even said hello. Tiana and Naveen came with kitchen knives and a band of swamp residents, including Louis the gator, Ray’s family of fireflies, and Mama Odie, with Juju the snake wrapped around her shoulders. And Moana stepped out of her Corridor of Light not with an army but with an entire ocean wave stretching over her head like the hand of a blue giant. 

Pete’s mouth was hanging open. Sora wasn’t sure he looked much better.

He looked around quickly, but the heartless were still swarming the Courtyard. The Princesses’ presence must not have been enough to power the Cornerstone. Not this time. He supposed it was beyond even a Princess of Heart to bring something back from the dead.

The New Six Lights smiled at one another like they were greeting old friends. And then they went to war. 

Tiana and Naveen cleared a path for Duchess Daisy and her potions, chopping at shadow heartless like they were dicing mushrooms. Rapunzel smacked heartless after heartless into the path of Eugene’s barrel, while Merida introduced an arrow to any that were smart enough to fade into the grass before they could get run over. Elsa ran at Moana’s ocean wave at full speed and then ran _onto_ it, patches of ice appearing beneath her feet and spreading. Soon, the wave was frozen solid. Then it roared and Sora realized it wasn’t just frozen; it was an ice golem that flexed and sent frosted daggers flying into the enemies. Moana and Elsa’s hands worked in tandem, melting and redirecting any daggers that might have hit anyone fighting for Disney Castle.

Only Anna and Kristoff remained on either side of Sora, pointing their swords at Pete.

Pete stared at all the weapons in his face and then held up his hands with a nervous laugh. “Wait, wait, wait. I’ll tell ya everything I know.” 

“Use him to round up the Organization,” Sora said to Anna and Kristoff, dismissing his keyblade. “I’ve got to help fix the Cornerstone.” 

 

 

When Riku finally found the keyhole, he had almost made it back to the start of the track. His footsteps slapping against the dirt hadn’t been anywhere near loud enough to block out the distant sounds of the war, and every second he spent looking was another second he spent berating himself for not asking his father for more specific instructions.

If Disney Castle fell to Darkness because he’d been too busy thinking about his own insecurities to act logical, he was going to punch himself in the face.

But as he neared where Leon and Cloud were fighting Sephiroth and Maleficent, from the other side this time, he noticed clusters of heartless twitching toward the hillside. Hanging back far enough that none of them turned to attack, he followed the creatures toward the grassy cliff faces that overlooked the Raceway.

Riku didn’t spend much time in Disney Town by himself, for security reasons, but the cliff was calling to him. Considering how many times he, Sora, and Kairi had found somewhere high up to watch the sunset, it was otherwise surprising that they’d never climbed these hills together. Climbing them now with a line of heartless as a beacon made him miss his friends fiercely.

 _Kairi,_ he thought, _hang on and stay safe._ But he didn’t doubt that she was okay, wherever she was, whoever had taken her. She was stronger than she even gave herself credit for.

The sun was an orange slice on the horizon when Riku made it to the top. There were more heartless up there, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. He poked his head out from behind a rock, checking for Sephiroth or a member of the Organization, and found nothing but moving shadows. One of the multicolored hot air balloons that hung perpetually in the sky without baskets floated by above, almost too high to reach.

Except, to Riku’s surprise, it began to lower.

All of them did, red and yellow and blue and purple alighting like birds coming to roost. They surrounded him, and his keyblade began to burn in his hand as they twisted in a loop that was so fast it made him dizzy. But something flashed the faster they spun, something that coalesced into a black mouse emblem.

And then, within it, a gaping keyhole. 

_Yen Sid has enchanted it so it can only be accessed by a descendant of the House of Mouse._

His father really hadn’t been kidding. And maybe the keyhole would have called to him from the start if he’d shared Mickey and Minnie’s blood, but Riku was almost glad he’d had to search. Because he _had_ found it, and he’d found it using one of the things that had led his parents to adopt him in the first place: his mind. 

Riku jumped back and pointed Soul Eater, allowing a beam of light to shoot from the tip of his keyblade into the center of the keyhole. He heard the echoing sound of a lock clicking into place and then the hot air balloons drifted back into their places overheard as if nothing had happened.

Leaving him atop a cliff surrounded by heartless – and Maleficent.

“You _fool_!” she cried. “Once closed, a keyhole can never be reopened! Do you realize what you’ve done?”

“Is that a real question?” Riku retorted, wasting no time in charging at her. She blocked him with a spell that flung him through the air, but he managed to get his legs underneath him to flip and land on his feet. “What have you done with Cloud, you witch?”

“I grow tired of your insolence, boy.” Maleficent lifted her staff above her head and her eyes began to glow. “Let’s see how arrogant you are when I end your existence.”

Riku opened his mouth to respond with something disparaging, but the words caught in his throat as Maleficent’s body was enveloped by a cloud of dark smoke. The smoke began to take form, a large, bulky form that had Riku stumbling several steps back. And then a dragon head emerged from the smoke, followed by a massive, jet black body with purple wings. The inside of her mouth glowed yellow and green, and that was the only warning Riku got before she belched a column of fire across the top of the hill. He dived behind a rock, but the heat of the flames cut at him, making fat beads of sweat roll down his face and searing the baby hairs on his arms.

He heard a sound that could have been a chuckle and then peeled around the rock to see Maleficent preparing to take flight. Toward the palace. Toward his family and his people.

_No._

Riku took off at a run and leaped off the hilltop, grabbing on to one of the black spikes on the back of the dragon that was once Maleficent. The ground was ripped away as Maleficent flapped higher and higher, until the Raceway – and the three figures still in it – was nothing more than a fleck in a sea of green.

Swallowing, Riku tightened his hold on the spike to keep himself from tumbling to his death while his free arm swung back for an attack he hoped would pierce the scaled hide of the dragon.

If he was going down, he was taking Maleficent down with him.

 

 

Cloud gawked at the massive dragon backlit by the dusk sky, wondering exactly when this day had gotten so fucked up. Leon snapped him out of it by grunting as Sephiroth shoulder checked him backward, trying to get him out of range so he could swing Masamune. The fact that he was now on the ground was a small thing when he was clearly meant to distract them from the fact that the dragon – Maleficent – was going to burn this world to the ground if she couldn’t plunge it into darkness.  
  
And he was a very efficient distraction.

The two of them working in tandem weren’t enough to overpower Sephiroth, and maybe they never would be. Maybe he’d saved Leon’s life to get them both killed at Sephiroth’s hands. Why had Sephiroth volunteered for this mission if he couldn’t hold his darkness? What had Pete done to him?

What if they couldn’t undo it?

Sephiroth launched himself into the air again, but he didn’t go far. Instead, he flew in a circle around them, herding them toward one another with his sword, probably looking for an easy way to run them both through with the same blow. Cloud ended up with his back pressed against Leon’s, both of them heaving from the strain of the fight.

“I wish Riku was still here,” Cloud observed. “He could have officially married us.”

“You want to get married right now?” Leon said, shooting another fire ball at Sephiroth that he easily dodged. “ _Here_?”

“I did want to marry you before I died, yeah.”

“That’s the most depressingly sweet thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Cloud smiled, though there was no real humor in it. Because he hadn’t been kidding. He had years of evidence in what happened to warriors that stood against Sephiroth _without_ the powers of darkness on his side, and he was ready to admit that his death was rushing up to meet him more quickly than he’d thought.

But he wasn’t ready to give up yet. Especially not when Sephiroth would just kill Leon – again – right after.

“You know what I can’t believe?” Cloud said loudly, his voice as casual as he could keep it. “That the second greatest warrior in Olympus let the darkness turn him into its puppet.”

“What?” Leon turned to blink at him.

“I once saw Sephiroth beat Cerberus in four slashes and the Hydra in six. Not even Hercules could say that. And now look at him.” Cloud saw Sephiroth’s expression settle into one that was almost annoyed and pressed his luck. “The darkness has got its hand so far up his ass that I hope it bought him dinner first.”

Sephiroth landed on the ground, his silver hair whipped in the wind, gilded under the stars that were beginning to wink to life in the sky. If there was one thing he loved more than Cloud, it was his pride. But would hurting it be enough to call him back to his senses?

Cloud didn’t get a chance to find out.

Above them, the sky exploded with a sickly light. Cloud felt the heat before he saw the fire pouring from the mouth of the roaring dragon, which was plunging through the sky in an uneven line. Leon shoved him but Cloud grabbed him back because he was _not_ going to be spared from the flames that would take Leon away from him again— _not again_ —

But the fire never struck.

A column of shadows surged up to meet it, snuffing out the flames as it expanded outward into a bubble that locked Leon and Cloud in darkness. Leon’s hands had frozen on him and Cloud let him go long enough to turn around and see the source of the power: Sephiroth, his fists clenched, his head tipped back like he was snarling at the sky as he expelled so much dark power that Cloud almost couldn’t see him inside of it.

The bubble only faded when the last of the flames had. Then it misted away, taking the miasma around Sephiroth and his single black wing with it. Cloud’s heart was hummingbird fast, his voice sounding foreign even to his own ears as he whispered, “Sephiroth?”

Sephiroth’s eyes flickered to his and there it was. A spark of light. Of recognition.

“She can’t hurt you,” Sephiroth said in a raspy growl, as if he’d forgotten how to use his own voice. “Either of you.”

Cloud stepped forward, but Leon cut in front of him immediately, the Revolver extended. “How do we know this isn’t a trap? _You_ tried to kill Cloud. You _did_ kill me. Cloud tried everything to reach you, and we all saw the darkness consume you. How can we believe it’s really you there now?”

“She promised… not to kill you. She went back on the deal, so the darkness—” Sephiroth brought a hand to his head as if he were feeling his wounds for the first time. “I can still feel it, but it’s… weaker. I’m weaker.”

“It could still be a trap,” Cloud forced himself to say, forced himself to ignore the way Sephiroth flinched. “We should tie him up.”

“With _what_?”

“I suppose it’s too much to ask that you walk around with our handcuffs.”

A smile dug into the corner of Leon’s mouth and refused to let go. “Let’s take him with us and lock him in the guards’ barracks on the way. If the barracks are even still standing.”

Cloud wanted to protest the cruelty of that – though his suggestion hadn’t been much better – but then Sephiroth’s eyes flashed heartless gold. And maybe it was a trick of the light. Maybe it was the exhaustion of the day catching up with him. But it made a shiver run down Cloud's spine.

He pointed Buster Sword at Sephiroth. “Walk.”

 

 

Larxene must have really liked landscaping, because she was eating a lot of dirt. Kairi laughed internally at her own joke as she waited for the blonde to get up again, keeping herself between Larxene and the copse of trees that still hid Naminé and an awe-struck Xion.

“Did you know I could do this?” she’d asked Naminé after knocking Larxene across the road with a double blow. “Did you see it in my memories? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I’m a memory witch, not a psychic,” Naminé had pointed out with a wide smile. “But I’m not surprised. Are you?”

And Kairi found, even now, that she wasn’t. Because she should have known, maybe even as far back as when Riku had nearly ruined his own engagement ball dinner to stay and support her at the war council. So what if she was a broken Princess of Heart, useless on her own? She was strong with her friends by her side. Oathkeeper and Way to Dawn seemed to sing with how much they reminded her of Sora and Riku respectively, as if they were with her right now.

Now, she could fight her way back to them.

“Hey—whoa.” Axel practically materialized next to her, his eyes wide as he took in her keyblades. “Where’d you get those?”

“My heart,” Kairi answered. “What’s the first thing I taught you about keyblades?”

That slow smile spread on Axel’s face. Behind him, Behemoth had been defeated and was disappearing into misty shadow. Roxas ran toward them and then past them, to the trees that hid Xion and Naminé. But Kairi was a candle and that smile was the flame dripping warmth down her spine that pooled in her stomach. She swallowed.

“I—”

Axel took two steps forward and kissed her.

And it was nothing. Just a peck. Hardly happening for long enough for her to register that it had happened. But her entire body burned anyway, right down to the wick in seconds. She swayed toward him, cheeks red as he said, “You just never stop surprising me.”

“Ditto,” she managed. “You—”

Axel swept her behind him and summoned a column of fire that swallowed the knives that Larxene had thrown while Kairi had been lost in their moment.

“She’s gone!” Kairi whirled around to see Roxas standing there, carrying Xion bridal style despite the disgruntled look on the young woman’s face. There were leaves and twigs and rose petals caught in her hair, and Roxas’ face was pale. “Naminé. She’s gone.”

“Marluxia showed up and took her,” Xion said, tears welling at the corners of her eyes. “I tried to stop him, but I—I’m too weak. I couldn’t. There was nothing I could do.”

“Well, that’s my cue,” Larxene sang, though she couldn’t quite hide the exhaustion from the toll the battle had taken on her. “Hang on to your little girlfriends, Axel. We’ll be back for them soon enough, but for right now this is just not my scene. _Later_!”

Kairi ran toward Larxene, but in seconds a Corridor of Darkness had appeared behind her. She stepped back into it and waved her fingers sarcastically. Kairi launched herself forward, but the Corridor winked out of sight and she landed in the dirt instead.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Axel said. “I promised – _fuck_.”

“Fuck,” Roxas said, but his was more distracted. Kairi pushed herself up and gasped as a massive shadow passed over the rising moon – a shadow shaped like a dragon. “That’s Maleficent. She’s heading for the castle.”

“ _Fuck_ ,” Xion muttered.

Roxas choked on a burst of shocked laughter. “Pretty sure _you’re_ not allowed to say fuck.”

“Let’s move!” Kairi said, running off without another word.

Every time she blinked, she saw Naminé’s face, kind and strong but sad, so sad. How long would it be before they forced her to erase their memories of her? How long could Kairi rely on herself to still want to get Naminé back?

The Courtyard was empty when they ran into it, but the signs of battle were everywhere. Several of the hedge figures had been decimated or partially decimated, leaves and branches strewn across the lawn. The grass existed in patches around holes and craters where people or things must have fallen. There was a scorch mark up the side of the palace that Kairi didn’t really want to know any more about.

And the hedge castle on which she and her friends had watched the sunset so long ago was buried under Maleficent’s dragon body.

She must have crashed there, because she was sprawled like she was taking a nap. Kairi heard a familiar voice shouting and grunting and pushed herself to run faster. She looped around one of Maleficent’s legs and, yes, there. There he was.

There was Riku, raining blows at Maleficent’s snout with Soul Eater while her head was still low enough for him to reach.

He froze when he caught sight of her and then he smiled so brightly that it transformed his face into that of a boy much younger. “Kairi! You’re okay!”

Kairi kept running and didn’t stop until she was in his arms. Despite the seriousness of the situation, he enveloped her in his warmth and scent, pressing his cheek against the top of her head and squeezing her tight. She could hear him murmur _thank god_ over and over into her hair, and she tried to resist the urge to cry in relief. Home. She was home.

A rumble made them separate. Maleficent was getting up and roaring, her rage echoing through the Courtyard if not through the entire world. Riku glared up at her and then blinked down at Kairi again.

“Where’d you get those keyblades?” he asked, tapping Way to Dawn with Soul Eater. “This one looks a little familiar.”

“It’s a long story,” she said and then ran up Maleficent’s front right leg. “Where’s my grandmother?”

“Inside,” Riku called from Maleficent’s other side. Kairi slapped Maleficent’s head to one side with Oathkeeper, Riku slapped it to the other with Soul Eater, and she used Way to Dawn to throw a Blizzagara that froze the entire right half of Maleficent’s face. The dragon roared again and reared back, throwing them both to the ground.

“And Sora?” Kairi grunted as she pushed herself up and reached out her hands to summon her fallen keyblades.

“Kairi!”

She looked up to see Sora flinging himself out of the castle’s second floor window, keyblade first. He struck Maleficent in every single one of her spikes as he ran up her back and then brought Oblivion down so hard on her head that she crashed back to the earth again. Then he flipped off of her, landing in front of Kairi in a spray of dirt.

His arms were around her a second later. “Kairi! Riku said you were missing! Are you okay? We wanted to come for you but—”

“I’m fine,” she said, squeezing him back. Even now, her heart still yearned in her chest for everything that this boy was and everything that he had meant to her. But it was a duller yearning, one that couldn’t hope to equal how much she just _loved_ him. Her best friend. Her family. “You guys were with me the whole time.”

They stood together, joining Riku, the three of them shoulder to shoulder in front of a leering dragon.

Maleficent had destroyed her old home, and the homes of millions of people. Ordered her to be kidnapped and destroyed her keyblade. Tampered with her memories and ruined her relationships. Created the new heartless that plagued her world. And now she’d come to burn Disney Castle to the ground and take the three of them down with it.

Kairi looked at Riku, who hoisted Soul Eater with a smirk. She looked at Sora, who was grinning at the keyblades in her hands. Way to Dawn and Oathkeeper gleamed under the light of the stars, or maybe that was her own light shining the way.

She tipped her head back to look Maleficent in her glowing green eyes. “This time… I’ll fight!”

 

 

Riku hadn't never fought with or against Kairi since the first heartless attack, but he swiftly picked it up. Where Sora was all energy and protective blocks, Kairi was like a dancer with a chip on her shoulder. Her every strike was graceful and purposeful, but she hacked at Maleficent’s flank with a rage that not even Riku could echo.

Not that he blamed her. This _was_ the second time that Maleficent had come for her home.

He hung back, panting, as Sora and Kairi teamed up to blast Maleficent with twin Thunder spells. It seemed like a lifetime ago when the sight of them fighting together so easily would have made him jealous. Instead, his heart swelled with emotion as the two most important people to him gave their all toward protecting his kingdom, and him, and each other. They’d all come a long way to get here, on the cusp of victory.

Of course, as soon as he had that thought, Maleficent reared back and exhaled a fist of fire into the Courtyard.

Sora and Kairi dropped out of the air, hitting the ground behind the remnants of the hedge castle. Riku barely managed to throw his shield up in time and even then the fire slammed him into the ground, Soul Eater disappearing in a burst of light. The remaining hedges caught fire, the green flames spreading across the grass, turning the Courtyard into a dangerous heat maze.

Even though he hadn’t been directly struck, Riku’s entire body still felt like it was burning from the proximity. He winced as he tried to drag himself up, but could only roll away from the nearby flames before his clothes caught fire, too.

He rolled right into a pair of black boots.

“Need some help, Your Highness?” said Axel, appearing out of nowhere to grin down at him.

“ _Traitor_ ,” Maleficent growled. “I knew it.”

“Clearly you don’t know as much as you think.” Axel extended his hand and his keyblade appeared. “If only you were as clever as you are ugly.”

“ _You_ —?” Maleficent roared at the sky, and Riku wasn’t sure whether her sudden anger was meant for Axel or for herself. “JUST DIE!”

He could see her tipping her head back in preparation for another burst of fire and flinched, too weak to summon another shield. But the fire never came – at least not from that direction. Three fire balls hit her right in the eye, drawing a snarl of pain, and Riku sat up just enough to see Leon and Cloud entering the Courtyard with Sephiroth trotting between them.

“Looks like we arrived just in time,” Leon said with a smirk. “We were afraid we’d miss the party.”

“Leon!” Sora ran past Riku and around Maleficent to give his older brother a hug.“You were gone so long I started to worry!”

Leon smiled softly down at him as he held Sora close with one arm, the other still pointing Revolver at the dragon.

Kairi knelt down next to Riku and helped him up, casting Cure until he felt like he could walk on his own. As one, they pointed their keyblades in Maleficent’s direction. Axel pointed his, too. Cloud readied Buster Sword. Riku half-expected Sephiroth to draw Masamune, but he just stepped back and out of the way, his eyes on the ground.

That left the six of them, four keyblade wielders and two swordsmen, standing between the Mistress of Evil and the end of the kingdom.

Maleficent’s eyes rolled around, trying to look at all of them at once, her chest heaving as if she was scared. _She should be,_ Riku thought. From the hard expressions on everyone’s faces, not a single one of them intended to let her leave this Courtyard alive.

Her tail shot out, swiping at Cloud, Sora, and Leon, and she huffed fire in Riku’s direction. He threw up a shield to protect Kairi and Axel, and Axel summoned a wall of fire that collided with Maleficent’s, both of them careening upward into a column of harmless smoke. Kairi ran forward as soon as Riku dropped the shield, sliding under Maleficent’s body to slash at her sensitive purple stomach.

On the other side of the Courtyard, Leon and Sora were on their feet again, Leon slicing a line of blood up Maleficent’s tail while Sora hit her with Thunder spell after Thunder spell. Cloud ran up her tail to get at her back and Riku jumped up to join him, both of them taking turns hacking at her wings.

She reared up again, but Riku clung to one of her spikes before he could go tumbling off the side of her like Cloud did. He heard her make a choking noise and hit the ground hard; Axel had summoned one of his chakram and thrown it between her teeth. As Riku watched, he set it on fire.

Maleficent was screaming, and her screams sounded like the echo of every person who had lost their heart or their world because of her. Those who had died. Those who had survived. Those who were left behind.

“Kairi!”

Riku looked down to see Sora on his knees, his hands cupped in front of him. Kairi ran at him and stepped into his cupped hands, letting him throw her up into the air. Up toward Riku.

He let go of Maleficent’s spike and allowed himself to fall, turning around in the air so he could swing his keyblade into place. Kairi's feet touched Soul Eater's teeth and he used it to throw her up and up, toward Maleficent’s head.

Kairi brought her keyblades together and screamed, “PEARL!”

Light exploded from them both, the beams twining around each other into a single blast that hit Maleficent directly in the center of her forehead. She screamed again as the light magic enveloped her body and then blew it apart.

Riku landed on top of Sora, both of them rolling into the grass before coming to a stop at Leon’s feet. Maleficent hit the ground with a _thud_ that rocked the Courtyard, her body evaporating into nothing but shadows. Soon, the only reminder that she had been there at all was a single black cloak that fluttered to the ground where the dragon had once been.

Axel caught Kairi when she came down, settling her down carefully. “Remind me not to piss you off,” Riku heard him say.

“You already did,” Kairi replied, but there was a flirtatiousness to her tone that gave Riku pause. Because when had _that_ happened?

“Is it over?” Leon asked, helping first Sora up and then Riku. “Is it really over?”

Riku brushed dirt off of his clothes, trying not to sound too defeated as he said, “There are still heartless everywhere. The Cornerstone…”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Sora said. He grinned when they all looked at him, folding his arms behind his head. “Let’s just say it turned out that the real solution was the friends we made along the way.”

 

 

Leon was exhausted as he walked into what felt like the hundredth council meeting after the Battle for Disney Castle. That was what the people were calling it all over Disney Town, which was slowly being rebuilt in the wake of Maleficent’s attack. The Fairy Godmother had waved away the worst of the damage, but no one had wanted it reversed completely. They had wanted to remember what had almost happened here.

They’d wanted the reminder to never let it happen again.

But that had only been one of the many discussions. The Cornerstone had to be moved from the Hall of the Cornerstone. Though it was an open secret in the world, leaving it in the exact same place Maleficent had found it last time had seemed like a bad idea.

Then, there’d been the conversation about what to do with the captured Organization members and Sephiroth. Saïx had been confirmed dead. Marluxia, Larxene, Demyx, Xigbar, and Xemnas were still at large. Xaldin and Luxord had been captured and were in the dungeons that had once held Pete. And Zexion, Lexaeus, and Vexen had been found dead in the Colonnade.

“I thought they were alive when we left them. I… didn’t know we’d hit them that hard,” Riku had said during that meeting, looking faintly disturbed. “Not that they didn’t have it coming.”

Axel had lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Oh, they definitely had it coming.”

The Sephiroth problem had taken care of itself, if one counted disappearing with only a note to Cloud that said _I’m sorry_ as a solution.

And, of course, there had been an hours long meeting about the reappearance of Xion, a girl none of them had ever met who claimed to have worked for them. Axel and Roxas and even Kairi had insisted that she was telling the truth, even if Kairi had admitted to not remembering her either. Considering his entire spy network had been dismantled, Leon was more than happy to take her on, but she was on a probation that he was going to drag on for as long as he could.

Trust was a rare thing around Disney Castle these days.

Except, of course, when it came to the Princesses of Heart. With their newfound ability to summon Corridors of Light, Sora had been able to pick up his gummi ship from the Bayou and easily close the rest of the keyholes. Aside from turning a keychain for Master's Defender over to Master Aqua, he still refused to talk about what had happened to cause him to abandon his gummi ship in the first place, no matter how often Leon tried to bribe it out of him.

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Sora insisted every time. “I’m okay. Everything’s okay. Let’s just leave it there.”

But Leon noticed, as he settled into his seat, that Sora tensed as Roxas passed by his chair and didn’t relax until Roxas had taken a seat next to Ven. The war council had expanded to include so many people that they were just calling it a council now, but Leon couldn’t help but feel weird about having former spies in the room. After all, he still didn’t know why Axel and Roxas hadn’t turned traitor with the rest of the Organization.

“Let’s make this a quick one,” Riku said from the head of the table. “Kairi has an announcement she’d like to make.”

Kairi stood, one hand resting on her grandmother’s shoulder as if for strength.

“I’m leaving for a while,” she declared. “I’m going to Hollow Bastion, and I’m going to restore it back to Radiant Garden.”

Gasps and murmurs followed in the wake of her words, but Leon’s heart had stopped outright. His hand made an aborted motion toward the chair next to him, but Cloud wasn’t there. Hades had summoned him three days ago and he hadn’t come back yet.

“As much as I love it here, I can’t… I can’t go on with my life knowing that my world is still out there and has been twisted into what it is. And Naminé.” Kairi shook her head as if clearing bad thoughts. “Naminé must need my help. She’s done so much for me. I _have_ to help her. Not to mention those Xehanort Report pages are still missing and—”

Leon knew what was going to happen even before Sora stood up and said, “I’ll fly you there.”

“Sora, I can just take a Corridor—”

“You can’t do something like that by yourself! You’ll need backup.” He rounded on his boyfriend. “Riku, tell her.”

Riku looked as unsurprised by this turn of events as Leon did. “If you don’t let him come, he’s just going to pop up like a virus anyway.”

“ _Thank_ you,” Sora said. And then: “Hey, wait!”

Kairi huffed in a way that nevertheless sounded fond. “Okay, we’ll go together.”

Riku glanced at Leon, but he just shrugged. Sora was a grown man now. Leon hadn’t been able to stop him the last time he’d run off, and he wasn’t going to try anymore. Sora had saved the world. He could decide which other worlds he wanted to save. Leon didn't regret a thing about the man he had raised Sora to be.

“Count us in,” Axel said from where he was leaning against the wall with his arms folded. Roxas and Xion, sitting before him, nodded to make it clear what he meant by 'us.' “We know Hollow Bastion better than we’d like. We can help you.”

There was a strange expression on Kairi’s face as she said, “Okay.”

Riku waited for further volunteers and, when none were forthcoming, he cleared his throat. “Dismissed.”

He, Sora, and Kairi left the room together, though not without Kairi throwing a final look at Axel over her shoulder. Leon made his way back to his room with his hands in his pockets, hiding his ring from his own view. It was getting harder and harder to look at it every time Cloud had to leave. He wondered if this was how Cloud had felt every time he’d been working too hard to make it to bed.

The room felt so empty with Cloud gone.

Leon sat on the edge of the bed and touched his chest, where not even a scar remained to let him know that he had ever died. Then he tensed, because he was not alone in his bedroom.

Sephiroth stepped out of the shadows like a shark fin parting the water. He lifted his hands. “Sorry, but I needed this to be a private meeting. Do you have a moment?”

The Revolver was on the other side of the room. Leon tensed further. “I guess.”

“The deal Cloud made with Hades is my fault. I think I’ve found somewhere to begin looking if we want to break it.”

“And kill me?” Leon asked, raising his eyebrows.

“ _No_. That was my fault, too.” Sephiroth lowered his arms, an apologetic frown on his face that _felt_ genuine even if Leon still didn't know him well enough to tell. “I just want to make amends and free you both to be together. If I had been the person Cloud wanted me to be sooner… if I hadn’t been so desperate to prove myself… if I had valued our friendship more…” He sighed. “Please. Will you help me save you both?”

Leon didn’t say anything for a long time, his fingers clenching in the cold bedspread. It was the echoing silence that made his decision for him.

“All right,” he said. “Let’s save Cloud. Together.”

 

 

Kairi was in her room packing when Axel showed up.

Umiko was sitting on the bed, refolding everything she had put into her bag, and, though Kairi lightly rolled her eyes, she was happy. It felt like everything was getting back to the way it was meant to be, even if they still had a lot to work through. But, she thought, that was just a part of growing up. Her grandmother was honoring her promise to try and treat Kairi like an equal instead of a child, and that was enough.

“I’ll go check the kitchen for snacks you can bring with you,” Umiko said, getting to her feet. She smiled at Axel as she squeezed past him. “Behave yourself.”

Axel closed the door behind her and then raised his eyebrows at Kairi. “What did you tell her?”

“That you kissed me in the middle of battle and are apparently just going to keep pretending you didn’t,” she answered as she packed a hairbrush. “What’s up?”

The silence that he could have filled with an explanation for the kiss stretched on until he instead filled it with, “You haven’t told anyone about me and Roxas. I keep waiting for the Guards to show up, and it's driving me crazy. Why the silence?”

It was a fair question. There had been many, many meetings during which many, many stories had been shared. But when Kairi had realized that she was the only one in the castle who knew that Axel and Roxas had turned traitor, she’d immediately decided to keep it that way. And when she’d suspected that he and Roxas might have really been the ones to kill Zexion, Lexaeus, and Vexen during their disappearance from the Battle, probably to protect their secret, she hadn’t said a word about that either.

She wanted to pretend it was altruism. That she was being blinded by her feelings for Axel, or because they’d earned a clean slate by helping in the Battle for Disney Castle.

But she knew why she’d really done it. And she turned to face Axel so he could see how serious she was.

“Because I’m _pissed off_ at you,” she reminded him. “And I want to get to decide when to ruin your life here.”

Axel’s eyebrows rose again. Then he grinned. “I think I’ve been a bad influence on you.”

“So, you’re coming with me to rescue Naminé,” Kairi turned back to her bag so he couldn’t catch her answering smile. Maybe he _had_ been a bad influence on her. Maybe she liked it. “Shouldn’t you be packing?”

“That’s not the only reason I’m going with you.”

She could hear his footsteps crossing the stone floor, but she didn’t stop shoving toiletries into her bag. “It’s not? Do you miss home?”

A big hand settled on her waist and gently turned her around until she was facing him again. He was close, closer than he’d ever been before that day and even after. His green eyes were dark, his upside down teardrop tattoos flashing in the light. Every complicated emotion he’d ever made her feel tangled in her throat, making it hard to speak.

He’d supported her and betrayed her. He’d intoxicated her and enraged her. She wanted him and she wanted him to go away. She had no idea which one would win until the second his lips were inches away from hers.

“I kissed you because I like surprises,” he murmured. “And I really like you.”

“I’m still mad at you,” she whispered as she kissed him.

This was a kiss that lingered. It was a kiss that ignited. It stroked her from the inside out, making her rock up on her tiptoes to get closer to him. His other hand settled on the small of her back as he brushed their lips together again and again, feather light and then firmer, harder. Her lips fell open, inviting, and his tongue slid into her mouth to taste her in a move that made them both groan. Kairi didn’t know what to do with her hands and her entire body was trembling, her nipples firm and sensitive inside her bra.

She pushed him away, panting.

His eyes, if possible, were even darker, just a ring of green left around the pupils. He took a deep breath. “Are you ever going to forgive me?”

Kairi thought about it. It was a good distraction from the molten heat making itself known between her legs. “Maybe. Probably not. I don’t know. No one’s ever – made me feel all these things. These stupid, conflicting things. I _like_ you, Axel, I wanted to tell you before… before all of this happened. But then all of this happened. Now I don’t know what future we can possibly have when I don’t _trust_ you and thinking about what you did makes me _so mad_.”

“Okay,” Axel said. “Okay. That’s fair.”

Looking at him made her want to kiss him again, so she turned back to her things. “You should probably go.”

“There was actually another reason I came by.” Something tapped her shoulder. She turned and he pressed a plastic block with a crown on top into her hands. It was pink and cream, like her dress. “Chip and Dale designed it after the whole thing with Sora going missing. It’s called a Gummiphone. Supposedly, it’ll allow us to make portable calls to each other or to them, so we never have to wait to be in a gummi ship to contact people.”

Kairi peered at the weird object and pressed a button, which seemed to turn it on. There was a screen button with a strange symbol and then another screen button with what looked like a camera on it. She pressed it and was surprised to see her own face pop up. Another screen button on the bottom allowed her to switch camera views so she was looking at the ground through the lens instead.

“Awesome,” she said, beginning to stuff the Gummiphone into her pocket before she thought better of it. “Want to take a picture together?”

Axel laughed. “Sure, why not?”

 

 

Sora was never going to leave if he didn’t stop kissing Riku, but Riku wasn’t about to complain.

He was spread out on his bed with Sora on top of him, one hand on Sora’s back, the other hand cupping Sora’s cheek. Sora wasn’t kissing him as deeply as Riku would like, but the door _was_ partially open. Now wasn’t the time to be getting hot and heavy.

Then again, when _was_?

“I can _not_ believe you’re leaving again,” Riku complained now that he didn’t have to be the prince in front of anyone. “We haven’t had time to get condoms that aren’t expired.”

Sora snickered into his neck. “Aw, baby, I’ll come back. Or you could come with us.”

“I really, really can't, though.” There was still so much to do to get Disney Castle even close to where it had been before all of this had happened. He had a call with Queen Elsa later about the impending threat from the Southern Isles and Weselton. His father was transferring more and more ruling responsibilities to him every day, including deciding what to do to rehabilitate the prisoners. And Riku still hadn’t had time to talk to his mother about his new shield magic. “At least we have time now.”

Sora stopped leaving a trail of sucking kisses along his neck long enough to give Riku a heart melting smile. “Because you’re my _boyfriend_.”

“Yes, I am.”

“And I’m _your_ boyfriend.”

“That’s how this works.”

“And we’re in _looooove_ —”

Riku covered his mouth with a hand as Sora’s shoulders shook with silent laughter. “Don’t be such a dork about this.”

He let go before Sora could lick his palm, well-aware that he was undermining his own words with the dorky smile he could feel on his face. But he couldn’t help it. Even after everything, the fact that he could lie here in the sunshine, with Sora on top of him, loving and being loved by the man he could now call his boyfriend, was unbelievable.

And, sure, Sora hadn’t yet wanted to talk about the letter in which Riku had basically said he was ready for marriage, but that was okay. They had time.

They had all the time in the world now.

“I should probably go pack,” Sora said reluctantly, pushing himself up into a sitting position. “And see Leon before I head out. You’ll come meet me in the Hangar to say goodbye, right? If you send Kairi with a note, I’ll come up here and kick your ass.”

Riku laughed. “I’ll come meet you in the Hangar. Make sure your pack your Gummiphone.”

Sora made a face. He barely knew how to use the thing and didn’t seem interested in learning, but he’d reluctantly accepted it when Riku had used his own phone to call Sora from the gym just to say hi.

He leaned down again for one last, lingering kiss, and then Sora jogged out of the room.

Riku remained on his back for a moment, listening to the usual sounds of Disney Castle in the day and wondering how empty it would feel with Sora and Kairi both gone for what could be months. Though he loved his parents and loved being the prince, this was the worst part. The trapped feeling he got when he realized that everyone else was free to go and travel the worlds, and he had to stay here and protect his people most of the time.

But the benefits of being the prince of Disney Castle far outweighed the downsides.

Riku rolled off the bed and onto his feet before trotting over to the balcony. It was a beautiful day for beginning a journey, even if he couldn’t be the one to take it. In an hour or so, he’d head down to the Gummi Hangar. He’d give Kairi a hug and wish her luck in restoring her home and rescuing her friend. He’d give Sora a kiss and promise to call him soon now that he could. He’d shake hands with Axel and Roxas and Xion and tell them all to stay safe. And then he’d watch the gummi ship take off, waving until it was little more than a speck.

Sora would be back. Sora always came back.

Until he did, Riku would be watching the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s the end! Wow, I cannot believe this is over. When I wrote this fic like a year ago, it was almost nothing like the edited version you all have been reading. In the original, Sora and Kairi actually did date for a bit! Leon and Cloud broke up! Kairi had a much, much smaller arc! But Kingdom Hearts 3 made so angry on her behalf that I ended up rewriting whole chunks of this in edits, and my deleted scenes document could be a nonsensical 100K story of its own. I like this version of the story a lot better, and I hope you do, too.
> 
> As you might have guessed from reading this, yes, there will be a sequel to the Prince of Disney Castle. Expect that maybe in the fall, when I’ve written far enough into it to feel comfortable posting on a regular schedule. But you can also note that this is now the first fic of a whole AU 'verse, because I also want to explore other things (like how Cloud and Sephiroth broke up and Leon and Cloud got together, or the history of the Sea Salt trio, or alternate ways Sora and Riku could have gotten together). However, I ALSO need a break from such! Heavy! Plotting! So expect to see some lighthearted rom-coms and shorter stories from me having nothing to do with this ‘verse in the meantime.
> 
> I just want to thank you all so much for reading! You’ve made dipping my toes back into the fanfiction side of the fandom such a rewarding experience, and I treasure each and every single comment and kudos you've left. See you soon!


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